World of Black and White
by CrimsonFaeSorceress
Summary: After eye surgery, Serenity thought she saw everythinguntil her best friend Mokuba disappears. Searching for him with Seto Kaiba, she finds there is much more to the world and the CEO of Kaiba Corp than the little black and white picture everyone sees.
1. Chapter I

Okay, this is my first fanfic . . . so don't get mad at me if this is not one of the best you've ever read. I'm a busy person, so I'll probably update only once a week or once every two weeks. Sorry if it bothers you; I'll try to update as soon as possible.

I don't know much about Japanese culture, so all of my writing will be "Americanized". I'm using the dubbed names because I'm more used to them, and I'll be using a schedule like the one I have for Serenity's and Mokuba's school schedule. There might be more of this type of stuff, so I'll tell you only once.

You can probably guess, but I'll tell you anyway—the main pairing is Seto x Serenity. Others are Yugi x Tea, Joey x Mai, and Duke x Serenity x Tristan (I just put this here 'cause they like her so much . . . not like anything's gonna happen between them).

Well, I hope you enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh . . . I don't even own anything that does remotely with it. Sad, huh?

P.S.: This chapter has been rewritten...and revised...and all that...

* * *

Swirls of red, orange, yellow, brown, and autumn-colored leaves spiraled down the road between towering business buildings. Cars crawled, and the sidewalks were crowded with people all trying to get to work. A small group of people, one in many, was walking down one. They looked no different from anyone else around them, except that they were not businessmen and women, but students in school uniform.

"Hey, Yugi," a girl with short brown hair said.

"Yeah, Tea?" The addressed, a short boy with tri-colored spiky hair, looked up at her.

"Have you seen Joey and Serenity yet? I mean, they're usually late, but not this late. If they don't catch up soon, they won't make it to school on time."

Someone snorted in front of them. "Of course they'll get here soon. Serenity would die if she got a tardy. Even Joey doesn't get more than one tardy a month with her around." The speaker turned around, dice earring swinging. He flipped his hair. "Just shows how responsible she is. At least, compared to her dog brother."

"Yeah, I hope so," Yugi said, in response to Duke's first comment. "We have a project in class, and he brought some of the work home over the weekend. If he doesn't come to school on time, we'll get a bad grade. The teacher checks that we have everything every day."

"Don't worry," Ryou said, his soft voice barely heard above the bustle. His brown eyes roamed over the crowds. "I just think--"

Tristan cut him off. "I told you that you should have paired up with someone else. Joey's a knucklehead."

"Here he is," Ryou muttered, his brown eyes looking across the street. Apparently, Tristan didn't hear him, because he was still going on.

"The last time we had to do a project together, he lost everything on the day we had to turn it in and we got an F. I learned that he was a bad partner the bad--"

"What are you talking about? You were the one who lost them! What's your point, anyway?" A blond jumped before them, his loud accented voice causing a few people to look over. "Are you trying to tell Yugi to ditch me on the project?"

A girl with auburn hair materialized before them. After a quick gaze at what was happening before her, she grabbed her brother's arm. "Joey, calm down. He's just joking around. Right, Tristan?" A slightly pleading look was on her face, hoping that Tristan would get the point that she was trying to get across and not go on.

"Of course," he answered smoothly, trying to make a good impression. It was always worth it to leave off teasing Joey to please his sister. There was always another time to ruffle the guy up. "So how are you doing today?" he said in his most gentlemanly manner.

Serenity was ignoring the fact that Tristan was trying to flirt with her; she was just happy that he had gotten the clue one way or the other and smiled in response. She then turned towards Yugi and the others. "Sorry for being so late. Joey was a little slow in getting out of the house today, and I almost slept through my alarm." She put on a smile, the sweetest one she had, to make them forgive her.

Yugi smiled back and turned towards her brother. "Did you…do anything over the weekend? You know, on the project?" He didn't want to say if he had it with him, because he was afraid that Joey might be offended.

Joey nodded. "Yep. I researched and wrote down a draft. It's in my backpack. You wanna see it?" He started to dig in his bag, and his friends could see how messy and unorganized it was inside. People were tripping over him, and were cursing at him for being in their way. The gang sweatdropped, seeing him in the middle of the sidewalk. They were about to leave him there. Fortunately, Ryou was kind enough to remind him that they had to get to school soon.

"Ummmm, Joey, don't you think you should show him later? We need to get to school, or we're going to be late." Ryou had a studied patient look on his face.

Joey quickly looked up, and a second later, a sheepish look crossed his face. "Oh, right."

After waiting for her brother to catch up, Serenity walked along with the rest of the group. She was lost in her thoughts, enjoying the view around her. She was still not used to seeing so clearly, even though it was over a year since she had the eye surgery. Her mind told her it was because she knew what it was to be blind. Nothing was ever taken for granted by her now ever since she had learned what her brother had gone through to get the money for her. Quickly banishing the unpleasant thoughts from her mind, she let her eyes wander around her. It was not long before she saw her school before her.

"See ya, Joey!" she called, rushing towards the school gates. She in high school, ninth grade, and her school was much closer to home than the others' was, since they went to another high school. She was lucky that her school was along the way, though, so she never walked to school alone. "I'll meet you here after the club ends!" Barely hearing the 'see ya!' from Joey and the others, she rushed towards the gates and the throngs of people inside.

Once she was inside, she went to her locker and got her books for biology and her gym clothes for PE. Everything else was kept in her locker, because she could get the rest of her things during break. Fortunately, she had a spot that was usually not crowded, and a locker on the top, so she was able to do so quickly. Gathering her things in her arms and closing the locker, she looked around for her best friend, Mokuba Kaiba.

She didn't really know her best friend's brother very well, though she had met him a couple of times during his tournament. On the contrary, she knew Mokuba—and better than most people did. Except for his brother, the famous Seto Kaiba, of course. She had met the raven-haired boy during his brother's tournament, then at school. She had just been starting classes at Domino, and had no idea what it would be like, and knew no one there. Her brother had thought that the high school he went to wasn't safe for a girl like her, and she was immediately enrolled in another high school in the city. Mokuba was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him, and they became quick friends. Mostly, it was because they had similar pasts and had known each other before. Both of them knew what it was like to have an abusive father and both of them had brothers who took care of them and loved dueling. It was no matter that Mokuba was one of the richest kids in the world and that she was one of the poorer people in the city. They were happy around each other and understood each other, and that was all there was to it.

She threaded through the mingling crowds to find her friend. Unfortunately, their lockers were pretty far from each other, so it took a while to get there. He had a locker in a more crowded side of the school where the popular kids hung out, so she kept her distance to look for him. She was not one of the popular people, and they thought she was a geek for getting good grades and loving school so much. Even though Mokuba also got good grades and loved school, he was accepted because his brother was the famous Seto Kaiba. Many of the girls at school had a crush on his brother, and would miss no chance to get a good look at him or talk to him.

Mokuba was not there. She scanned the crowds of people, cringing mentally and hoping that she wouldn't have to go into the middle of one to get him. She sighed uncertainly when she saw he wasn't there. Serenity was happy that he was not there, but she was not so happy that she hadn't found him yet.

After searching through other halls in the school and the grounds outside, she went up to the school library to see if he was there. Even after looking in the room dubbed "the hangout room' because so many hung out in the unused but opened classroom, she still had not found him. She bit her lip, a little worried. Mokuba would never miss a day of school, even if he were sick with a high fever or bad cold. Of course, his brother would try to keep him home, but he would still come. Trying to get him to go to Kaiba Corp. never worked, either. He liked school that much. Maybe he was late, though she highly doubted it. He was usually at school before she was.

The bell rang and she scanned the crowds before her once more before heading out to their gym class, which they had together like every other one of their classes. She still did not see him as the gym came in sight before her. Well, there was still the chance of him being late or absent for once. It happened to everyone, right? With a sigh, Serenity went inside the girls' locker room to change for her first class of the day.

* * *

Serenity walked out of the locker room in her uniform that consisted of a short-sleeved white shirt and navy blue sweats, dirty white sneakers stepping on the dry blacktop. Walking to her assigned spot, she watched the door of the guys' locker room, hoping to see Mokuba walk out. She was still biting her lip in anxiety, hoping that nothing had happened to him on his way to school. He did have limos, chauffeurs, and even his brother's car at his disposal, but he preferred to walk. He came from the opposite direction that she came from, so they would often meet at the gates. Now, the nagging feeling of nervousness would not go away. She knew it was foolishness to think that something could have happened to her best friend, but she still could not banish the feeling. After all, wasn't he pretty good at defending himself now, after all of those kidnappings he had been in before and his brother's self-defense lessons?

She must have seen at least twenty boys walk out of the locker room, but none of them were Mokuba. Most of them had been sixth and seventh graders in her period. Shyly, she walked up to one of the guys that Mokuba would sometimes hang out with, hoping that they could tell her something. "Um, do you know if Mokuba's here today?"

He turned around to see a shy girl in auburn hair that he knew didn't talk that much. "Why would you want to know, huh?"

"He's my friend," she said defensively, "and I just wanted to know."

"Come on, give the girl a break," one of his friends said. "Sorry, we don't know."

She nodded in reply, then walked to her spot once more just as the bell rang. Mokuba still wasn't there by the time the teacher had come, and she was left to do her exercises and running alone, in which she was not very fast at, merely average. Volleyball, their class unit right now, was a drill in a group of three. They bumped and set the volleyball in turns to practice. Luckily, she was good at the sport and made a good impression for herself.

After gym was science, and Mokuba still wasn't at school. The bad feeling came back once more, and she pushed it away to focus on her lessons. The lesson was just interesting enough to keep her occupied, but by the time the class was ending, her thoughts went back to her friend. Thinking that he could not attend school because he was either busy with work at Kaiba Corp. or very sick, she got the work for the day from the teacher and left the class.

As she rounded the corner, she thought she saw Mokuba walking through the streets before the school. He disappeared before she could make certain that it really was him, so she made no effort to make sure. The kid had looked like someone or something was dragging him. It couldn't have been him. It just wasn't possible. Mokuba was a regular kid, except for the fact that he was the brother of a major company owner, so why should anyone want to hurt him? Especially now, when all the trouble had finally ended? There was no way that her friend could be kidnapped; he was her friend and that was just the way things were and nothing could change them. Or could it?

Serenity shook her head in frustration. Mentally chiding herself for her wild imagination and letting it wander so far, she sighed quietly to herself. Just because he wasn't at school didn't mean he was hurt or kidnapped or something. People were gone everyday, and no one thought about them twice. Why was she even thinking so much about him? True, he was her friend. She shook her head once more, trying to clear her head of the thoughts.

She thought her crazy mind had blocked out the annoying thoughts already when she got to her locker. Therefore, it was a surprise when she found herself thinking about it again unconsciously when she was putting away her science things and getting out her geometry textbook, her calculator, and math notebook. She almost slammed her locker door on her fingers in surprise. The feeling went away just as quickly as it came, and anger filled in the spot. She stood in the same spot for a few more seconds, trying to get herself to think of something more pleasant. Unfortunately, it didn't happen and the thoughts still taunted her like an annoying bee flying around her head. She really needed to get her mind focused on something else.

She went to the usual hangout for Mokuba, her, and a small group of friends. She usually chattered quite a bit during break with her friends, but her friends knew something was wrong when she stayed quiet. They left her alone. The bell rang for third period, and they were saying goodbyes and splitting up for their classes.

Algebra II and math were always favorite subjects for Serenity. She didn't know why, except that she liked the challenge that was in it that others didn't like. Her grades were always good, only beaten in all of the Algebra II classes by Mokuba and, occasionally, by a few other students in the class. She was always excited about the class. Today, though, she was not as attentive and active. As the teacher went on about numbers and variables, her gaze drifted outside to the streets in front of school from her seat in the middle of the room by the windows. The classroom faced the front of the school, so she got a good view of what had made her crazy about half and hour ago. Nothing unusual was happening down the streets. Cars were still driving through mid-morning traffic, people were still walking the streets like they always did. There was nothing out there that advertised any type of kidnapping or such.

A voice called out her name, startling her out of her thoughts that she had found herself so deep in the whole morning. It was the teacher, waiting expectantly for an answer to a practice problem. A small flush rising to her cheeks, Serenity quickly looked over the problem written on the board and hoped she was saying the right answer and that she had heard the question correctly. "X squared plus three."

"Correct," the teacher said, turning back to the board to go on about solving the problem. She sighed in relief.

The period that had once seemed so exciting to the girl now seemed to drag on forever. It seemed like hours before the bell rang, and she quickly picked up her stuff and went to the teacher for Mokuba's copy of notes. After answering a few questions from the teacher about whether she knew where Mokuba was and other small details, she got the notes and a study guide for the next test, which was to be on Wednesday.

Her elective, Computer Applications, was on the other side of the campus, and thoughts of her best friend left her for a few minutes as she tried to get through the crowds and to her class on time. It had always helped with her best friend there, because he always knew how to get them both through the crowds quickly, but she took a longer time in getting to her class because she could not do it herself. She barely reached the class before the bell rang, and she heaved a sigh of relief when she got to her seat. She also had a bit of trouble during the class without Mokuba's ingenious help with computers, but she made it through the project and was out of there and finished with the day's work as the bell rang. At least there was no homework for her to carry for her best friend this time.

She quickly went to her locker once more to deposit her load and get her lunch. She met her friends under a tree, and they enjoyed a somewhat talkative lunch, though Serenity didn't contribute. She barely even touched her food, but her friends didn't bug her. They knew when to ask and when not to. They knew this was one of the times not to. Serenity spent her lunch doodling in her notebook that she kept to write free thoughts and short pieces of fiction and to draw when she was inspired. Of course, she never did so in class, only during free times. She got a page out this time to sketch a picture of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but could not concentrate and couldn't draw the wings right. She took the whole period drawing a few lines, erasing, drawing a few more, then erasing yet again. After someone asked to see it, she put it away and said that it was nothing good. Picking at her lunch, she was relieved when the bell finally rang for classes. There were only two more periods left of classes and her after school club, then she was free to go home and spill all of her feelings into her journal.

Her Language Arts and History classes were under the same teacher, so that meant no more changing classes until the end of the day. History and Literature book in hand, along with a notebook, she walked into the classroom into a seat far in the back. Usually, she had a seat in the middle, but the teacher had chosen spots and she was placed near the back. Time began to slow down once more, and the class felt like it would never end. The teacher's voice droned in the back of her head as Serenity took very simple notes, her heart not in the lesson at all. It was getting harder and harder for her to concentrate on the work throughout the day, and now it seemed it would never leave her in peace. The feeling persisted more and more often. By the end of the day, Serenity was almost nodding off, and the bell almost became an alarm clock. Getting the notes and homework for her friend the last time that school day, she considered skipping the club and going straight home to rest. The memory of what her brother had told her the last time she came home by herself, even in bright daylight, stopped her. She did not fancy having her brother lecture her on the dangers of the streets again; they were a little too creative for her liking. She could have sworn that her brother made some up to scare her.

After dragging her homework, backpack, and schoolbooks out of her locker, she wearily trundled to after school forensics club. She really hadn't wanted to join the club, but Mokuba had been pleading with her to join because he didn't want to go alone. He hadn't wanted to go, either, but his brother made him go because he needed the skills to work at Kaiba Corp. So she had been dragged along, and now she had to face another barrier in her way to home. There was another hour and a half of memorizing a DI until she could go home.

* * *

Serenity had never been happier in her life to leave school. If she had been more into it, she would have skipped on her way out. As it was, she walked slowly out to the front gates, where she would wait for her brother to walk her home. The club instructor had let them out early today, so she still had to wait another ten minutes for him. She considered stopping by her locker to get her book so she could pass the time more quickly, then decided she was too tired to do so. The long walk continued to the school gates.

To her surprise, she was not the only one there. All of the other students had gone much faster than her, so by the time she reached the gates, she expected every classmate to have been out of sight, whether they were walking home or if their parents were picking them up by the bus stop. She saw a few cars out in the parking lot like always, but she also saw one that had a familiar person standing by one. By now, the sight would have been familiar. If Mokuba had been at school, of course.

Everyday after school, or after club, if it was a Monday, Mokuba's brother was waiting out in the parking lot to pick him up. It was easy to spot him because he was so tall; it helped even more that he had the best car around and there were always girls around him. Serenity's best friend would always offer her a ride back home, though she would turn it down politely, knowing her brother would scold her to no end if she went in the same car as his hated enemy, Seto Kaiba.

Today, he was still here. Serenity was so surprised to see him that she stopped short of the gates for a few seconds, her mind completely blank. It was soon filled with a jumble of what she feared.

She thought to go around another way, unnoticed, so she wouldn't have to deal with the young CEO of Kaiba Corporation. She looked wildly to both sides of her, searching for a way out. Unfortunately, he had seen her and was walking towards her when she looked back to where he had been standing. She swallowed and walked over to Kaiba, her small steps a huge contrast to the man's much longer ones, trying not to look nervous.

"Where's Mokuba?" he asked when he was still a few feet away from her. His blue-eyed gaze swept behind her easily. "Isn't he with you?"

Serenity clutched her books close to her, a little intimidated by him. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say about her best friend missing from school. There was no way she could just tell him straight out and be blunt about it, because it wasn't polite and she didn't think she had the words to just say it simply, either. Instead, she stayed quiet.

Kaiba looked back at her when he didn't hear her answer. "Did you hear me? I asked if you Mokuba was with you." This time, he had a bit of irritation in his voice, as well as an air of commandment, slight as it was.

"Well—" she stuttered. "I . . . didn't . . . see him today . . ."

The eyes narrowed above her. "What? He wasn't here today? You're lying to me."

"No," she replied a little shakily, "I'm not. I was wondering if he was with you. You can ask anyone that was at school today. Nobody saw him."

Kaiba's gaze had turned darker with every word. "So that means either he cut school and is trying to stay away from home for as long as possible or else something happened to him." He stated it flatly, his voice slightly cold.

"He wasn't cutting school," Serenity interrupted quickly. She could tell that he wasn't talking to her, but she had to say it to defend her best friend. "He likes school too much to do so. Plus, there were no tests or anything in our classes today, so he would have no reason to cut." She left the rest of the jumble going on in her head unsaid, not wanting to voice any suggestions.

Kaiba ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Okay. So what you're trying to tell me is that he wasn't at school today and you think something happened to him on his way to school, though you're too scared to say so yourself. You think that there is no other possible explanation for his absence from school today. Correct?" Serenity nodded, still not trusting her voice to talk without going on about her thoughts. "Alright then. So that means you're worried for him." She nodded once more.

He turned around, his white, sleeveless trench coat billowing behind him. He headed off towards his car, and stopped before it without turning. "So are you coming or not?"

Serenity didn't answer for a moment, surprised that he had asked and feeling uncertain. What would Joey say about this? And couldn't Kaiba find Mokuba a lot faster if she wasn't in the way? But she was too worried about what could have happened to her best friend to just leave his brother to search for him alone. "Wait up," she called.

He did not wait, but went to the driver's side and got in. She hurried and opened the door to the passenger side, slipping in and dumping her backpack on her lap to close the door. Just as she shut it, he had the engine running and drove off.

* * *

Sorry if the story seems slow right now . . . that's only because it's in the beginning right now. It'll get more exciting; I promise! Please review! 


	2. Chapter II

Chapter 2 is finally up… I was going to post it earlier, but things change and I got stuck fixing the chapter for a whole day. Also, standardized testing for me is next week, so it may be a while until the next one is posted.

Thanks for the reviews! They make me so happy!

**Sorceress Vanessa**: So here's the chapter you've been waiting for…I'm still trying to get all of my updates posted as soon as possible, but it's still hard to update more often.

**Anonymous reviewer** (though I know who you are)** from April 26, 2005**: Yeah, I know I sort of over-did the part where Serenity was wondering where Mokuba was, but I had to build up a bit of tension. Maybe I didn't do such a good job on it. Thanks for the tip, though!

**Anonymous reviewer from April 29, 2005**: You _think_ you like the story? How can you not be sure? Just kidding. Again, here's the second chapter, and I'm trying to update as fast as I can.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, and certainly not the song "All You Wanted" by Michelle Branch. But enough blabbering. Here's the story!

* * *

"Where are we going?" Serenity asked tentatively as Kaiba turned out of the parking lot. She was hugging her backpack before her, not knowing if she should put it down or not.

He kept his eyes on the road. "To search for my brother." He glanced quickly at the girl sitting by him and saw a look of incomprehension on her face. "We can't just assume that he was kidnapped. What good would it do if we called the city officials and found Mokuba around the corner? I don't know what you're thinking of, but I'm looking around the city for him. If you don't want to do that, then you can get out of my car."

Serenity was bewildered for a second. "Oh, I didn't mean that. I just wasn't sure of what you were doing." He looked like he hadn't heard and didn't answer. She didn't bother to say it again, not wanting to sound foolish in front of a man she knew almost nothing about.

They stayed quiet for a while, the only sound coming from outside the vehicle. Serenity turned to watch the view outside the window. Cars drove by, lights changed, people wove around each other, and buildings flashed past. Outside, nothing looked different from what would have happened any day. The daily bustle of rush hour was as crazy as always. People chattered with each other as they walked down the sidewalks. Inside the car was a different story. The two occupants were silent, and at least one of them was uncomfortable with where she was. She looked lost and a bit out of sorts.

"Um, Kaiba?" she asked quietly. He merely grunted in response. "Is it okay if I turn on the radio?"

He glanced at her momentarily, then nodded. "You know, I'm not a person that needs everything in perfect condition," he said, turning his glance back to the road in front of him. "You can put your backpack on the back seat if you want."

She quickly did as he suggested with a bit of difficulty, then turned towards the front once more to turn on the radio. Her eyes were met with a bunch of buttons and dials. After looking over all of them and not knowing what any of them did, she ventured quietly, "How do I turn it on?"

Kaiba didn't answer for a moment. When he stopped at a red light, he reached over to one that looked like every other one, except for the fact that it was set in a spot next to the preset buttons and had a volume dial next to it. "What station?" he asked flatly.

"It doesn't matter," she answered, feeling a little stupid at the simplicity that she had so obviously overlooked. He simply left it at what it was on.

Serenity was surprised at what station he had left it on. She never really thought that Kaiba would listen to pop music. His type of character seemed to be the type to listen to…she didn't know, classical or some type of quiet music, maybe none at all. It could have been possible that Mokuba had been the last one to listen to the stereo, but she still had a feeling that Kaiba had preset the stations and was the one who had left it there. She hummed the current song, "All You Wanted", quietly to herself.

"I'm going to the park first," a voice said, bringing Serenity back to the matters at hand and putting a halt to her humming. "Are you still going to help me?"

She blinked a few times. "Of course I'm going to help. Mokuba's my best friend."

"Good. We're going to the search the park to see if he's there, then we'll search the streets and all of the shops around the area to see if he's there. We'll split up and ask people questions, and meet up by the fountain in the center in half an hour, at around four. That should be enough time. You have a watch or a cell phone or something with a clock on it, don't you?" She nodded. He answered by turning into a parking space and turning off the engine.

* * *

Serenity searched the streets and shops around her, trying not to run into the bustle. Most of the shops were still open, so that only meant more to search. She checked her watch. Fifteen more minutes. She had already checked the park and about three blocks, and still had to check at least two more in the same direction and five more coming back.

She hurried in and out of every door and down two more streets without any success. It took her a total of ten minutes to do so, and she was tired from rushing around so much. She was only a few blocks from the school, now. If she could, she would have stopped by a café and ordered something small to enjoy for a while, then go back to searching. It was impossible to do so, though, especially because she was already behind schedule and because she was too worried about her friend to be able to enjoy anything. Maybe Kaiba had already found him and was waiting for her, and she would be able to go back to their meeting spot without anymore searching. She knew before she even completed the thought that it was highly unlikely. With a sigh, she crossed the street and went back to her sweep of the city.

More questions were asked, more shops and stores were looked through, and more streets were covered. She was so into her work that she failed to notice that it was already time to be at the fountain. The work continued down the sidewalks, and not one place was missed. It was not until she saw the park before her that she realized that she was late.

Serenity waited anxiously to cross the street then ran over to center of the park. Even running, it took her a few minutes to get to the fountain. Kaiba was already there, looking irritated and very impatient.

"What took you so long?" he asked heatedly as she approached. "You're ten minutes late."

She took a while to answer, out of breath from her run. "I'm sorry. I—"

"I don't want to hear your excuse. You're forgiven this time," he snapped, interrupting her. "I don't suppose you've found Mokuba?"

"No."

He did not say anything. Instead, he turned around angrily and headed towards the parking lot without a glance back. She had to run to catch up with him, and she could barely keep up with him when she did. It was hard to match his long strides. Even when he saw that she was having trouble not to fall behind, he did not slow down. Eventually, she did fall behind, still breathing heavily. He had already started the car when it came into view. It was almost a surprise when he didn't drive off without her.

"Can't you walk just a bit slower?" she asked as she literally fell into the seat. She leaned back into the chair gratefully, letting the music from the car's radio wash over her.

"I have something important to do, unlike you. I don't have time to waste by spending it walking at a leisurely pace."

She sat up indignantly, forgetting the music at once. "I wasn't walking at a leisurely pace! I just ran down a bunch of streets, and I'm tired! Plus, my legs aren't as long as yours are. And I already told you, I want to help find Mokuba too, so why would I want to slack off?"

His voice was dry and a hint angry when he answered. "Don't forget, I went down the same amount of streets you did, and still finished before you did. I suppose those are your excuses for coming late, too?"

Serenity fumed in her seat. She hated the way he always made her feel so foolish. A nasty reply rested on her tongue, but she held it in, not wanting to be embarrassed again with some quick answer. Instead, she muttered, "Okay, sheesh. You don't have to get angry with me. At least I searched everywhere for your brother instead of leaving the few streets alone."

Kaiba once again gave no sign that he had heard. Instead, he rolled down his window and put his elbow on it. His chin rested on a lightly clenched fist. Anger still lined his face. Driving in silence once more, he looked as distant as always.

Seeing him like that, Serenity immediately forgot her anger. She couldn't help it; that was just her nature. She said softly, "Why do you always have to be so independent and act so cold towards other people that want to be your friends? Why don't you let anyone into your life other than Mokuba?" She ignored the sharp glance directed at her, but the intensity of the gaze made her look down at her hands. "You act like you have to be the best in the world, and that your way is the only way to achieve that goal. Life doesn't have to be like that, you know. Those that have a content life make it that way without trying to be the best, but by trying to do their best for themselves and others. Just because your past was terrible, it doesn't mean you should try to forget it by pushing yourself so hard and by shutting everything else out. Does it really make you content to live that way?"

He growled dangerously. "You don't want to go there." His eyes were kept straight on the road, keeping the sight of the great anger burning in his eyes hidden. However, it was written all over his face, as much as he tried to hide it.

"There's a famous saying that goes, 'Live life to the fullest.' How do you live a full and satisfied life with no one to share it with? Like a friend, or someone you care about. What's left in life with coldness and no happiness other than the pain you store there?"

He looked her way to see her looking with nothing but kindness in her eyes, innocent and bright. He almost said, "My life is none of your damn business. Hell, just leave me alone." Seeing such kindness, though, made him hold it back. Even a person like him couldn't be so heartless as to turn a back onto someone that had such a big heart. He riveted his eyes back to the road once more. "What would a girl like you know about a tough life? You've probably never had to support yourself and a younger brother alone in your life, never had to make all of the tough decisions yourself with no one to tell you whether it's right or wrong. What's it to you, anyway, how I live my life and if I'm satisfied with it or not?" His tone became bitter. "Why do you care what my life is filled with, when the choice has been mine on what to do with it? Does it really matter to you if I want to be wrapped in my own feelings and not the openhearted feelings everyone else has?"

She turned towards her window. "I've lived a tough life myself, Kaiba. I know at least a little bit of how you feel. My parents divorced when I was little, and now my brother is all I have. Sometimes, it's up to me to keep us two going. Even when my eyesight was bad, I had to force myself to go on, many times by myself. I know what it's like to have to find your own way around. But it never crossed my mind to do so alone and keep all of my troubles bottled up inside. In fact, I never knew it was possible to survive alone that way until I met you.

"And I'm not the only one who cares. Your brother cares about you. Though he may not show it, my brother and his friends also do. We don't want to see someone so lonely and cold, filling the rest of his life in misery and uselessness."

"Do you call money uselessness? The very thing that supports you? And sacrificing everything for someone you care for? What about that?" Challenge mingled with the bitterness and anger, making his voice seem as if it was spitting out ice shards.

She turned back to him, even though it scared her to do so. "No, I'm not saying that. But what are more important, money and others' opinions about the way that you act, or how you feel and how that one person you care for looks up to you? Mokuba sometimes tells me that he wishes you wouldn't sacrifice everything you have for him to be happy and content and to make a good reputation for him. He says that it makes him sad to know that you risk losing everything in the world just for him; he wants you to have some fun in life and not leave all of it for him. He hates it that you have to carry so much pain for him, and then cast everything out because there's no room left for anything else."

It was quiet for a moment. Serenity could tell what she had just had gone deep down and struck something. Finally, Kaiba said, "I know he feels that way." The bitterness had left his voice, making it sound hollow. "What else can I do, though? He's all I have left. If I lost him, then I really would loose everything I have."

She looked him straight in the eyes. "We just want you to think about it. Why not try a friend or someone else to talk to, to share your burdens? Maybe opening up a bit will ease it. Saving room for a bit of happiness won't do anything but good."

They said no more about the topic. Kaiba let himself drift off, not wanting to think about what she had just said. In truth, he didn't want to discuss things like this because it always hurt him. Thinking about such things made the pain he kept to himself hurt more. He would rather have life the way it was now than to face the realities. Admittance of what he was really doing to himself was still to far for him to reach for. He still was not ready to face it.

* * *

The two teens ended up searching for Mokuba until five o'clock. Every hangout was searched, all of his favorite places were combed inside out, and any other place imaginable was gone through. They split up again to cover more ground. Questions were asked once more, and their reasons were either an "Oh, we got separated by the crowds coming from a café" from Serenity, or "I have a meeting to get to. Just tell me," from Kaiba. Just to make sure that their stories would not sound suspicious when compared—it was a possibility—Kaiba would say that his little brother was with a friend, a girl with auburn hair named Serenity.

Unfortunately, neither of them found anything about the raven-haired boy at the end of any of their searches. None of the places they had searched had anybody that even remotely resembled the younger Kaiba, and no one they had asked had seen him either. Every search had ended this way.

For the last time, they got into Kaiba's car. They had formed an awkward but comfortable relationship for now, quiet but perfectly understandable. Whether it had been formed from the talk that they had or from the similar cause of finding Mokuba, they now understood each other enough to know how much distance and quiet the other needed. Right now, the radio was still on, but there was very little talk, especially small talk. There was absolutely none on the previous topic.

They were a few blocks from the school when Kaiba broke the silence. "Do you want me to drop you off at school or at your house?"

It took a while for Serenity to realize that he was talking to her. She had been so used to the silence from him that his voice was a bit of a surprise. "Huh? Oh, you can just drop me off at school. Joey will probably be waiting for me there." She hesitated, then asked, "So what will you be doing now about Mokuba's absence?"

"I don't know," he answered shortly.

She let him be, already used to him being blunt and on the point. However, her mind did not give her any of the peace that she gave to Kaiba. It still wondered and fretted unceasingly about Mokuba. Were they ever going to find him? Was he already dead? Worse, was he being hurt somewhere and begging for them or death, unheard? As maddening as the thoughts were, she could not dispel them anymore than she could make her best friend appear before them like magic. That's what she wished she had right now—magic. It would make things so much easier.

Once again, Seto Kaiba interrupted her thoughts. She was glad of it, though. "It looks like your brother and the rest of the geek squad are out by the front gates," he commented plainly as he drove into the street adjacent to the school.

What he had just said took a while to dawn on her. "Oh no! I totally forgot about telling my brother where I was! He's probably been so worried about me!"

Kaiba sighed. "Look, you forgot and that's all there is to it. You're already within shouting distance of him. What difference will it make if you keep worrying about it? You can't do anything about it now. Just let him fret if he wants. You'll be with him and his little friends in a minute, anyway."

Another thought came to her just as he ended. "But…" she trailed off, not daring to mention what was on her mind. She bit her lip in agitation.

"You're in my car," he finished dryly. "I almost forgot the puppy hated me and wouldn't let you in anyone's car but his, especially not one that's owned by a detested stranger like me." Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

Serenity sighed, not wanting to argue with Kaiba. Even though she knew she should defend her brother and their friends, she was too tired to do so. She watched the small group before the school as they came nearer and nearer. "How am I going to explain this to them?" she muttered to herself.

"You'll do it because you have to," Kaiba answered, knowing that she did not expect a reply. "Don't even bother trying that innocent act and make me explain for you. They may fall for that, but I don't."

If anything, those words from that voice only made her more agitated. She watched with nervousness as they pulled into the parking lot.

* * *

So that's it for chapter 2! Anyone want to guess what'll happen when they get out of the car? It should be kinda obvious, but who knows? I might add a little twist… Chapter 3 will be up soon! Please review! 


	3. Chapter III

What I said last time was a lie. With standardized testing, I actually had more time on my hands. I thought that studying for my Chinese exam would take up time, and even though three days of the week were minimum days, I still came home at 5:15. I also had a bridge project, but…I don't know what I did. All I know is that I finished this chapter early!

Thanks again for the reviews!

**Bingbing**: Ha ha…I liked that part, too. I just had to add it so he wouldn't seem so inhuman.

**Snowmouse**: WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT! I'd never, ever, ever do that, even if I were paid a million dollars. He's too cute—at least in the show. You know, I really should have just said that I might do that just so I wouldn't reveal too much of the plot…Oh well. Too late. Now you know.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh… for the third time…and I never will…

* * *

"Where the heck is my sister?" Joey muttered for the hundredth time, pacing before the gates of the middle school. "She should have been here almost two hours ago!"

Tea sighed. "Joey, just be quiet for a bit, will you? You've said that enough already."

"And stop pacing before the gates, hun," Mai remarked. "It's not going to do us any good. We just came here, and we haven't even looked for her yet."

He spun around to face her. "I know _you guys_ just came here!" he said heatedly. "But I've been here forever!" He went back to the gates and shook them as hard as could, trying to let out his frustration. Yugi and the gang just stared at him.

"He almost looks like a rabid dog," Duke commented in a hushed voice to Tristan. Ryo, who was standing between them, nodded in agreement.

"Well, maybe we should try looking around for her, Joey," Yugi said. "Mai's right; we've done nothing but stand here the whole time. Even before we came, I doubt you did any searching either. No offense, of course," he added quickly.

Just then, the sound of an approaching car reached their ears. Even Joey turned to look, wondering who would be here this late other than them. They watched interestedly as the car cut through the parking spaces and propelled towards their vehicles, which were parked in the spaces right before the gates. Every window was tinted so they couldn't see the driver or if anyone was with him or her. The expensiveness of the car only made them more curious as whom it could be. As it turned into one of the parking spots, most of them could have ran over there and torn the driver's window off of the door. That was only an inkling of how impatient they were to figure out who was intruding.

It came as a surprise when they saw auburn hair coming out of the passenger's side and a sweet face that was as familiar to them as each other—Serenity. She ducked back in to get out something that looked like a backpack, then shut the door and ran over to them. "Joey!" she cried, running over to them. "I'm so sorry! I was so busy with what I was doing that I forgot to tell you where I was!"

Joey heaved a sigh of relief and hugged her. "It's okay, sis. Just tell me next time."

"Who were you with, Serenity?" Yugi asked, interrupting her brother. "What were you doing? We were worried about you."

"She was with me," a somewhat familiar voice said behind them.

"You!" Tristan shouted before he even turned around completely to see the man approaching. He knew him by the sound of his voice. "What were you doing with her? If she was hurt, you'll pay!"

"I thought that was her brother's job," Kaiba said mildly. "Have you become her become her protector or something, Taylor? Or is the puppy not capable of doing so himself?"

"You won't be getting away easily from me either, Kaiba!" Joey, who had finally stopped gaping, had gotten it through to his brain that his eyes and ears had seen and heard that one of his enemies had been with his sister. Alone. "You'd better think again before you even come within a mile of my sis—"

Kaiba ignored the rest of what he was saying. He turned to Serenity instead and gave her a look that told her to explain before things got out of hand. At first, she did not see it. Her eyes and attention were on her two friends spewing threats, like everyone else, and she was a little embarrassed. The intensity of the gaze averted her attention, however, and the message in he CEO's eyes was as clear as day.

"Joey, Tristan, Duke, I can explain…" Serenity started. Duke had joined in now. She stopped when she realized that the three were oblivious to her voice and had not even seen the look Kaiba had given her even when they were facing him. Her gaze became a little desperate as it turned to the man she had spent the whole afternoon with, obviously needing help in getting Joey, Duke, and Tristan's attention. However, he did not seem to notice and did not give her any help. She turned to the others, and, fortunately, they were kind enough to help her.

"Guys, I think Serenity wants to say something," Yugi said. They didn't hear him, either. "Guys…" He turned back to her and smiled apologetically.

Mai sighed. "Joey Wheeler! Duke Devlin! Tristan Taylor!" she shouted at them. They finally stopped and looked at her. "I can't believe you guys," she said in a slightly angry voice. "Serenity was trying to tell you something, an you were so busy shouting insults that you couldn't hear her or Yugi. Can't you guys at least keep one ear open, if not both?" The boys appeared sheepish. Mai ignored them. "Now, what were you trying to say, hun?"

"Thanks," Serenity said gratefully. Mai nodded. "Kaiba didn't do anything—"

She was cut off once more when they exploded yet again. She sighed quietly to herself. "Please, will you just listen?"

Kaiba interrupted. "Look, I have no time to stay here and listen to you pathetic people argue. If you want to, do it on your own time." His voice was cold enough to make them all shut up. "So are you going to stand here and fight, or will you let the girl say her part? Because if you are going to argue, then I will be happy to leave you here to do your business."

Joey, Tristan, and Duke mercifully fell quiet, but they still glared at the CEO. Serenity quickly jumped in before she lost her chance. "We were looking for Mokuba. Neither of us knows where he is. I didn't see him at school, and Kaiba says that he last saw his brother right before he headed off to school. We don't know what happened to him." Her words were met by silent looks of surprise and shock. She looked uncertainly at all of the faces.

"Mokuba's missing?" Tea exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

Kaiba ran a hand through his hair in annoyance, then crossed his arms. "She means exactly what she said. How long does it take for you to understand a few simple words? Do I have to make it simpler? What about this: We have not seen Mokuba today. We do not know where he went. Is that clear enough?"

"Where could he be, then?" Duke asked.

Everyone sweatdropped. "He's at home, playing video games," Kaiba answered sarcastically, the obvious lie dripping from his voice like water from the end of a pipe. "Of course not!" he exploded, finally giving in to his pent-up anger. "Why do you think we spent an hour and a half looking for him? If we knew where he was, do you think I would bother searching for him in every street in the city? How thick can you morons be?"

"You didn't have to bring her along with you, did you?" Ryo knew that the tension in the air was going to lead to something soon. "We wouldn't even be here having this argument if you had just let her stay here and wait for her brother."

"Why don't you try saying that to her, then? I wasn't the one who wanted her along." Kaiba let out a hiss of anger.

Everyone turned and looked at her. "Well, he didn't make me go along… I guess I wanted to. Mokuba's my best friend." Her eyes stayed focused on her feet.

"You wanted to?" Yugi asked, surprised once more. "You could have just let Kaiba find him, you know. It would have been better, too, if you had…"

"I know," she said softly. "But I couldn't help it. I guess I worry too much."

"Well," Joey declared, "we're going home. You don't need to worry too much. I'm sure Kaiba will find him soon. That is, if he really lives up to his reputation with technology and stuff." He turned to his friends. "Thanks for coming."

His sister pulled lightly on his sleeve. "But, Joey! I want to help still!"

He turned back around. "What?" he asked, confused.

"I still want to help look for Mokuba. You said that Kaiba would be able to find his brother himself. Can I help, please?"

"You haven't asked me yet. What makes you think that I'll accept your help?" Kaiba's eyes were distant once more, but his voice was incredibly dry.

"And you will not ask him," Joey instructed. "He won't listen, anyway."

"Please? Mokuba's my best friend!" Her eyes turned sad as he shook his head.

Kaiba was reminded of Mokuba when he saw Serenity looking at her brother that way and a small spot opened in his heart. "Wheeler, you don't have control over your sister's life. You should already have one for yourself. If she wants to help, she can. It's her decision."

"Really?" Serenity's face brightened, reminding Kaiba of his brother yet again. It fell again, though. "If Joey says no, I can't."

"Are you really going to let him tell you what to do? I told you that you didn't know what it meant to make your own decisions. Your brother makes them all for you."

"But I have to listen to him! He's my brother!"

"Just because he's your brother, it doesn't mean he's always right." _I'm a brother, and I'm not always right, _he thought to himself. "If you really want to help, then you won't need your brother's consent to do so."

Joey grabbed the CEO's collar. His anger that had died away less than five minutes ago had come back. "Stop giving my sister notions on living life. As far as I'm concerned, your view is often wrong."

He ignored the boy before him. "Well, what's your answer? Do you want to help me or not?"

Serenity looked around her, not completely sure. She really wanted to help her best friend, but she knew she shouldn't do what her brother didn't want her to do. He was right about these things most of the time. Yet she didn't want to be constrained from living life the way she wanted to, just like Kaiba had said. Would her brother love her less for her decision? What if it hurt him that she had totally disregarded his words? She knew that someday she would have to go against her brother in something. Why did it have to be today, though?

She looked at the rest of her friends gathered around her. None of them looked like they cared what she decided. No, that wasn't right. None of them looked like the decision would change anything. She finally turned back to Kaiba. The look on her brother's face, which was turned towards her, almost made her reconsider.

'Are you going to let him tell you what to do? I told you that you didn't know what it meant to make your own decisions. Your brother makes them all for you.' Kaiba's eyes brought the words back up to the surface once more.

"I—I think I want to help," she answered hesitantly.

"You think, or are you sure?"

She stayed quiet for a moment. "I'm sure."

* * *

Serenity sat curled up on her bed, staring out into the middle of nowhere. A journal lay before her, but she seemed to have forgotten it. The pen lay on top of the words, the last sentence halfway completed, uncapped.

Her walk home with her brother had been very quiet. Joey had simply let go of Kaiba with a rough shove at her words, and began walking home. The others were shocked, too, but they said goodbye to her before she went after her brother. Kaiba had nodded and walked over to his car. When she caught up with Joey, she also was treated in the same way everyone else had been treated.

She had no doubt that he was saddened by her decision. Every other time, she had done exactly as her brother had told her. Going a different direction had set him off in a new direction, too. He had expected his sister to always be the same, she guessed, but that was impossible. _Older brother, can't you see that I need to start making decisions for myself? I can't always depend on you_, she thought with anguish, seeing him once more in her memory.

Once they had arrived home, nothing changed. They went about their chores silently, not needing to communicate to know what to do. Joey shuffled through the mail and put them on the table, then went to do his homework. Serenity cooked the dinner. As they ate, she tried to cheer her brother up. But somehow, she could not find the right words. All of them seemed to make the situation worse. She could only think that they needed to discuss her decision soon. The only problem was, she didn't have the courage to do so. She didn't know how her brother would react to her bringing the topic up again, and certainly didn't want to anger him. All that was left was to wait for him to say something about it.

Chores after dinner finished, they had gone separate ways into their rooms. Serenity finished what was left of her homework and tried writing in her journal to ease out all of her emotions. Somehow, she ended up drifting away instead.

She didn't notice when her brother came in the room. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize that he had read her confusion in her journal. Without knowing, she had started the much-needed talk. "Serenity, why did you help Kaiba?" he asked softly, not making much of an attempt to hide the hurt that flickered in his eyes.

Looking into her brother's eyes, she remembered all of the times he had been there for her and all of the great times they had together. It made her hurt to have to change it. Hugging her knees, she looked down at the journal, not seeing the words. "I had to find out what happened to Mokuba," she answered in a small voice. "He's my best friend. I would do anything to help him."

"But that doesn't mean that you need to help Kaiba. He's just going to use your help to find his brother, and then he's going to cast it all away without a thank you. That man is cold, sis, and he doesn't care what happens as long as he gets what he wants."

She looked up with a small amount of shock. "But how do you know that? How do you know he'll do anything without a care? Would he really throw away something as valuable as friendship to do what he thinks is right?"

Joey walked over to her window. He stayed silent for a moment, then sighed. "During Duelist Kingdom and his tournament, he often made attempts to make an end to…how things were. He tried to end his life a bunch of times, and once he almost did it, when he was going to blow up that duel tower with himself inside. And you know why? All because he couldn't get what he wanted. He couldn't beat Yugi in a duel. The only thing that kept him alive was probably the memory of his brother. He's dangerous, Serenity, and it's not safe to be with him."

Her mouth formed a small 'oh'. She looked up at her brother standing silhouetted by the window and wished that he would understand. "Joey, I really wish things could be the same as they always were, with you there so I could have a happy life. But…but things can't always be this way. I need to start making my own decisions and learning from the mistakes I make."

He turned back to her and walked until he was only a foot away from her and the bed. "Why start with Kaiba, though? When you start making your own decisions, you start with something that won't have such huge consequences, and has a great chance of having a good outcome. With that man, one misstep can lead to you being hurt, and it's certain that he'll just forget about anything you did for him and never look back."

"Joey, I don't know how to explain, but I think I'm doing the right thing. It's not about him; it's about Mokuba. I can't just sit here and expect him to look for his brother alone. It would be the same as what you said—hurting someone else. But it won't just be Kaiba that ends up hurt, it'll be Mokuba, too, because he'll think that I didn't care about what happened to him."

"He would forgive you, at least. Not like his brother."

She moved so that she was sitting right before him. "How do you know that he wouldn't ever look back? He's lived a hard life, and it's tough just to let your emotions all out at once when you've kept them bottled up for so long. Haven't you seen how different he acts when he's around his brother? He doesn't know whom he can trust anymore. That's why he acts so cold and distant. He knows that his life isn't always a positive impact on those around him. Since he doesn't know how to change the habit of pushing others away, he simply thinks that he can make things better when he's gone. Maybe it's not his ambitions that make him that way, but something else."

"Look, Serenity, I'm not going to try to change your mind because I know I can't. And I admire your courage in starting to look out for yourself. All I'm trying to tell you is to be careful around him. Maybe you're right. But there's still the possibility that you're not." He tried to smile, but a trace of sadness still lingered in the corners of his eyes.

His little sister smiled a genuine smile, then got on her knees and hugged him at his level. "Thanks for understanding, Joey. Thank you so much."

"No problem," he answered.

They broke the hug, and Joey said, "Alright, I'm going to leave you alone for awhile. I still need to do a bit of homework. So you can do whatever you have to do."

"Umm, Joey?" she asked a hesitantly.

"Hmmm?"

"Why did you change your mind about letting me help Kaiba? Not that I don't appreciate your faith in me," she added hurriedly. "But before, you seemed set on keeping me away from him. Why change your mind now?"

He turned around, looking more like his old self. "You know, I really don't know. Maybe it was your determination or something." He scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know."

"Oh," she answered, not completely sure she understood what her brother had just said. "Well, thanks."

He walked out of the room with a distracted nod and shut the door behind him. As soon as it was closed, though, Serenity's happiness fell away. "Am I really doing the right thing persuading him to let me help Kaiba?" she asked the space around her. She got no answer.

* * *

Okay, so this is it for this chapter. Sorry if it was boring, but I had to put all of the talking in to make it clear. The action will come up soon, I promise! Please review! If you don't, then I won't post anymore chapters, and those of you that want to keep reading will never be able to…it's for your own good! Cause I feel really ignored. Review, pwease? 


	4. Chapter IV

Stupid Chinese exams. They kept me from writing anything for at least a week, 'cause I had to study for them. But now I'm done, I have more time on my hands. That's why this chapter is a little longer.

I'm sorry if some of the stuff in this chapter is a bit off. My dad's a computer engineer, but I don't know much about computers and he doesn't teach me anything, unless I beg, which I've given up on. So my knowledge on such is a bit off. Also, I haven't had a chance to watch most of the Yugioh episodes, so I'm not sure that's what Kaiba's office looks like. I've seen it once or twice, and what I've written is what I remember about how it looks like in the episodes. Sorry.

Thanks to:

**Bingbing**: That's just how everyone else does theirs, and I don't want to be so different. And he is a bit overprotective, if you look closely.

**CoCoSpazemDog**: What's so 'poor' about Kaiba? You mean the part where he gets sorta told off by Serenity? Sorry, me a little lost.

Disclaimer: Like I said before, I don't own Yugioh.

So here's the story!

* * *

The next morning, Serenity woke up to the telephone ringing. She took a look at the clock, then groaned and turned over, burying her face in her pillow. She wished she could have just half an hour more in bed, or, better yet, no school at all for the day so she could sleep in. Yesterday, she had been kept up thinking and rethinking about her decision, and she had little precious sleep. She felt so tired…

As the phone continued to ring, she threw her covers off with another groan and stumbled out of her room. She knew her brother would never let the phone keep him from a few spare moments in bed. Sadly, the phone was not in her room, and she had to head over to their sitting room to get to it. Dragging her feet over, she plopped on the couch beside the table before picking up the phone. "Hello?" she greeted sleepily.

"Hey, it's Yugi. Is this Serenity?"

"Oh, hey," she answered, surprised. "What are you calling so early in the morning for?"

"I need to talk to Joey. You sound tired. I guess he's not up yet, since you sound like you've just gotten out of bed, but could you please get him? It's urgent."

What could be so urgent? It wasn't her business to ask, though. "Okay, I'll get him. Will you wait a sec?"

"Sure."

Serenity carefully put the phone on the table, then ran to the back of the apartment she shared with her brother to where their bedrooms were. She knocked on the door. "Joey!" There was no answer. "Big brother!" She knocked again. "Joey, wake up! Yugi wants to talk to you! He's on the phone, and he's waiting for you. Come on, wake up!"

She heard mumbling, then sensed that he was walking to the door. Sure enough, he opened it a moment later. "Did you say that Yugi needs to talk to me? About what, and why at this time of the morning?" His blond hair was ruffled and certainly more messy than usual, and his eyes were still half-way closed. His pajamas were wrinkled, too. He barely covered up a large yawn with his hand.

"I don't know," his sister said. "He just said it was urgent. I think you should go ask him."

"Alright." Joey yawned again, then went down the short hallway to the room beyond. "Hey, Yugi?" she heard. There was a bit of silence, then a "What? What do you mean? Here, wait, let me get the phone in the kitchen." She didn't hear the rest of the conversation as he changed to the wireless phone in the kitchen and blocked out his voice to a muffled tone.

After one more attempt to hear what was going on, she gave up and went into her room to get ready for the day. She changed into her school uniform and fixed her bed and room, then went over to the bathroom she shared with her brother to prepare for the day. The daily routine of brushing her teeth, fixing her hair, and cleansing her face was gone through once more. She then went back to her room and organized her schoolwork on her desk, making sure she had all of the homework that she had worked on and all of her textbooks in her backpack. With one more check around the room to make sure everything was in the right place, she turned off the lights and walked out to the kitchen with her backpack.

Joey was just ending his conversation on the phone as she walked inside the room, much to her disappointment. She wanted to know what Yugi needed to tell her brother that was so urgent. At least she could get it from her brother later. "Yeah, alright," he said, his back still to her. "Don't worry about it, Yugi, everything'll be fine. Just, are you sure we're doing the right thing? I mean, we don't have to." After a long period of quiet, he sighed. "Alright, if you say so. I won't tell her, I promise. Yeah, see you later."

As he turned off the phone and put it back in its cradle, Serenity asked, "What was so urgent?"

"I don't know, really," he replied, shaking his head.

"What were you guys talking about?" she insisted.

He smiled quickly, trying to look reassuring. He failed, though, and looked slightly distracted instead. "Oh, nothing. It's really not that important." Before his sister could say anymore, he walked out of the kitchen. "Cook some breakfast, will you? I'll be back down in a sec, I just need to change."

She opened her mouth to say more, then decided it would be useless to do so and shut it again. Serenity turned to the refrigerator to find something to make for breakfast, then closed the door and decided to look through the cabinets instead. A box of cereal came out with two bowls and spoons, then she reached back into the fridge and took out a gallon-sized jug of milk. She didn't feel like making much this morning; she wanted to keep it simple.

Just as her brother came back in looking somewhat more decent in his school uniform, the phone rang once more. They both simply stared at the object on the wall. With a sigh, Joey broke the silence by saying, "Why do we have so many phone calls this early in the morning?" He dragged himself to the phone, then picked it up and answered. "Hey."

As Serenity pulled herself up on a stool and poured the cereal into her bowl, she tried to catch the words coming from the other side. Again, she couldn't hear more than a buzz. "What?" Joey said, his bored tone instantly building up. "How did you get our phone number?" Again, the buzz continued. "Mokuba? Oh. Fine then, just wait a second. Oh, yeah, and let me remind you before you start doing anything bad, I'm going to get the whole conversation from her later anyway, so don't think that you can get away with anything." He turned to his sister. "Here, sis, it's Kaiba."

"Kaiba?" she questioned as she slid off her chair. However, she didn't say more until she picked up the phone. "Hello? Kaiba?"

"_Tell me, is your brother always so bored and cranky in the morning?"_ His voice was slightly dry.

"Huh? No, it's just because we've already been woken up by another call."

"_Woken up? Don't you know what time it is? So that's why your brother's always late to school."_

Slightly annoyed, she ignored his attempts to anger her. "What did you call for?"

Just like she hoped, he left off annoying her. _"You're still helping me, aren't you? I'll meet you at the parking lot, like yesterday, at the same time."_

"Why?"

"_We're going to head over to KaibaCorp. There's not much we can do without the technology there." _

"Oh."

"_So I'll see you then? You won't be running off to get home with your brother?"_

"No!" she exclaimed. "I mean, no, I won't run off."

He merely made an incomprehensive sound over the phone. "Is that all?" Serenity asked tentatively.

"_Not unless you have more to say."_

"See you then," she said. All she got back was Kaiba hanging up on her. Taking the phone away from her ear, she looked at its white surface, then put it in its cradle.

"So what did he say to you?" her brother asked as she started her breakfast.

"Not much. He just told me that he was going to meet me in the parking lot…"

* * *

Again, school seemed like a nuisance to her. It passed by the same way it always did--walk to school with friends, go to classes for forty five minutes each, eat lunch, go to more classes, then go to club. The difference was that everyone seemed…different. Yugi, Joey, and the rest of the gang had seemed hushed instead of being the loudest people on the street during their walk to school. Her classmates and friends avoided talking to her so much, and she was alone almost all day. The teachers didn't seem like they were teaching anything of great importance, either; they were doing more of a review.

By now, it was certain that news of Mokuba's disappearance had spread everywhere. Television channels and radio stations had broadcasted the missing younger brother of the world-famous CEO like he had been the son or close relative of one of the most important politicians in the world. Everyone was busy talking about it, since so many had known him or his older brother. Serenity didn't even want to think of the burden Kaiba was putting up with right now. What bothered her so much today must have paled in comparison to what the older Kaiba brother was being bothered by. Maybe the news was the reason everyone seemed so unusual and strange.

Cars coming towards her took her from her mulling. One of them, the only one visible, was definitely Kaiba's. She squinted behind his car to catch a glimpse of who else would be following him. He wouldn't bring anyone dangerous trying to hurt him to a school with him, would he?

Instead of slowing down and pulling into a parking spot, he kept up his speed to the curb where Serenity was standing and pulled up at the last moment, swerving right before her. She involuntarily stepped back and away, afraid that the car might hit her. Fortunately, Kaiba was skilled enough to be able to stay on the road. He rolled down the passenger window and called to her, "Hurry up and get in! I don't want them to catch up with us!"

Though she wanted to ask who he was talking about, she quickly got into the car instead. A glimpse through windows towards the entrance of the parking lot didn't give her an answer. As Kaiba sped back towards the entrance, she couldn't hold back her words anymore. "Who do you not want to catch with us?"

"Look." As he raced on out of the parking lot, two cars passed them by. It was not until she looked through the windows of one and heard a voice coming from another that she realized who was following them. "Them," Kaiba emphasized.

She watched the other two cars disappear behind the trees encircling the parking lot, the said, amazed, "Duke and Mai? Why?"

"Not just them. The rest of your brother's friends are with them. Maybe you should ask them why they're following me first." His was outraged. "They have no right!"

A memory jolted her. _Joey asked Yugi if they were doing the right thing and then told him he didn't have to worry_. "Um, Kaiba, I think they planned to do this."

He faced the road, but his eyes glared at her edgewise. "So you know about it? Did you tell them to do this, too?"

Words momentarily slipped from her. "I-I didn't know about it until now. Yugi called Joey this morning, and I only heard Joey say something about them not needing to do something, and not to worry. I didn't realize until now that they were talking about…about…" Again, she struggled for words.

"So they're following me," Kaiba growled, "after some phone call? Are they trying to spy on me, or do they think you're going to be raped by a supposed criminal if they don't keep an eye on you?"

"Kaiba, I think you're going a little far…"

"Shit," he said darkly. Pulling his cell phone out of a pocket, he flipped it open. Not bothering to check the number, he put it to his ear. "What is it?" he spat into it, not bothering with a greeting.

His face steadily got darker and darker as a voice came through. Serenity could hear a man going on about something, but she could barely tell for the few words that she could catch clearly. She glanced curiously at the man sitting by her, then jumped as he suddenly snapped at whoever was there.

"You--you--you _imbeciles_ followed me so you could help me! What is wrong with you? I knew your brains were somewhat short of functioning properly, but not this short! Why the hell do you people think that stalking a person will get you permission, anyway? If someone wants to do something not in his control, then he _usually_ asks first. I don't want your help, and I don't need it." With that, he snapped the device shut and harshly jammed it back into his pocket. "Damn Yugi," he muttered, still livid. "I should have checked the number first or hung up on him."

KaibaCorp was before them after a few moments of tense silence. Unfortunately, so was another call. "Here," Kaiba said, thrusting the phone at Serenity. "You persuade those fools that your dog brother calls friends to leave me alone." She took it hesitantly.

The first thing she heard when she put the phone to her ear was a loud voice that sounded slightly familiar, if not for the madness laced in it. "--and answer, Kaiba! Stop ignoring us, 'cause we want to help! Is it that hard to understand! If you don't hurry up and answer, I'll--"

As he turned into the parking lot before KaibaCorp, Kaiba sighed. Obviously, he had heard the loud voice of Joey Wheeler, and every word he said. "Doesn't your fool brother ever learn to listen? Hang up on him."

She hesitated again, then decided to follow the CEO's first instructions and not the last. "J-Joey? It-it's Serenity. You don't need to shout so loud."

The voice was flustered. "_Eh? What? Seren? What are you doing with the phone? I want to talk to moneybags."_

"He doesn't really want to talk to you guys right now," she said, looking over at him.

"_Well, why not? He can at least listen to what we are going to say, instead of hanging up on Yugi like that."_

Serenity cut in quickly before he started shouting louder. She didn't want Kaiba to hear her brother sounding so foolish, though she couldn't say why. "He's annoyed that you guys are following him like this, big brother. You know, he has a right to feel so. You guys should have said something to him first."

"_Well, we're talking to him now. Or trying to. Will you give him the phone back, please?"_

Kaiba cut off her answer. She realized that the car was stopped and the engine off. "Can I have my phone back?"

She covered he mouthpiece and took it away from her mouth. "One second," she said. "Um, Joey?"

"_Give it to Kaiba. I need to talk with him." _

"Um…okay. Here, wait a second."

Kaiba almost snatched his device from the girl. "Okay, listen here," he said savagely. He talked right over Joey. "I don't care who the hell you are. Shut up with the crap already. I don't need anyone to bother me just now, and I'm not intending to make any exceptions for anyone. Especially not any of you. I've had enough of you people. I can take care of myself. One person helping is enough."

_"Hey--"_

"Good riddance," he said into the phone. He quickly ended the call and turned it off. "Come on," he ordered. "Out of the car. We have work to do."

* * *

"You know how to operate computers, correct?" Kaiba asked as they went up the elevator. His anger had died away a little since coming in to the familiar surroundings of his office building, and he did not snap as much.

"Yes."

They were silent once more as they went up the elevator. The doors slid open in a few moments, and as they walked out into a hallway, Kaiba once more asked a question of the girl next to him. "You said you knew how to use a computer. How good are you? Give me something to compare to."

"Ummm…well…" she stuttered, trying to find something that wouldn't make her sound stupid, yet not make her sound like she knew more than she did. "I-I take the same computer class as Mokuba and get A's in it. I'm not as good as Mokuba, but few are better than me."

Kaiba was quiet for a moment. "I forgot you were in the same class as Mokuba. He told me once before." He paused, then turned back to his old self. "But how good is that class? My brother says it's easy."

"Well, that's because you're both computer geniuses, and I'm not," she retorted, not shy when it came to talking about her best friend.

He chuckled at the back of his throat. "No doubt you ask for his help every once in a while? We'll see how good you really are when I see you handle one."

With that, he turned into one of the rooms, trench coat billowing behind him. He took a card from him pocket and ran it through a key slit on the door. As a green light blinked, he opened the double doors and went in.

What greeted Serenity's eyes was what she knew instantly to be the CEO's office. It was huge, with a colossal glass window as the back wall. Most of it was bare except for the huge desk sitting near the middle of the window and the chair behind it, but they were definitely of great quality. Heavy curtains hung over the window, which were pulled back by Kaiba as he entered to show a great view of the city below. A few shelves and such were put in intervals around the room.

"Stop looking around. You can do that some other time. I'm only in here to get a few things, and then we're going to go deeper into the corporation to do our work. Here, take this for me."

Serenity dutifully walked over and took a few disks, memory cards, and accessories from Kaiba, who was rummaging through his desk. He took out a few thin binders from a shelf for himself, then dropped off his keys and something else Serenity couldn't catch into the one of his desk drawers, which was under a lock. Picking up the phone, he dialed an extension and said, "I'll be busy, so don't bother me. If there's an emergency, call my cell phone. You know what needs to be done."

He put the phone back in its cradle, then picked up the binders with one last glance around the room. "Alright, let's get going." His briefcase was in hand once more.

The girl followed him out of the room, almost tripping after his long, quick strides. He impatiently kept the door open for her, then locked it and led the way to the room deep in the corporation.

* * *

Serenity and Kaiba stayed in the room for at least half an hour without interruption. It was filled with computers and other technology, either up against the wall, on the wall, or in rows. Serenity had proven her usefulness, and as Kaiba told her what needed to be done to improve the technology, she ran around the room to do as he said. Soon, the program was well on its way to its new task--searching the country for any trace of the missing boy without any human handling.

According to Kaiba's plan, the program was to be connected to all KaibaCorp devices around the country for any traces of Mokuba. Data of the younger sibling would have to be entered, but that would be done later. For now, the entire program was being rewritten to search without interruptions. In the end, it would be able to do so twenty-four hours a day with no need for commands other than the ones that Kaiba put in. People would only need to be there to supervise its progress, and he would soon write it to be viewed not just in the huge room, but in his office, his laptop, and the rest of the company building. Of course, he would make sure no one else could get to it.

After the half an hour, though, their peace and concentration was interrupted. It came in the form of the thought Kaiba had just pushed away to the back of his mind--Yugi and the gang. Somehow, they had gotten through the secretary and everyone else and had found out where he was. They stormed in with a huge slam of the doors against the walls.

He jumped up before the echoes had died away and quickly pulled the doors back together. Almost hitting Yugi and Joey in the face, he shut the large panels until only a crack of light showed through. His anger came back in full force. "What the hell are you morons doing here? I told you to get out of my life! Do you still have problems understanding words?"

Serenity quickly ran over to him from her work at the other side of the room. "Kaiba! Wait! Just listen to them!"

He glared at her ferociously without changing his grip. Blue ice flashed, and warm cinnamon wilted. Neither gave up, though. With a growl, Kaiba threw open the doors once more and let them slam against the walls even louder than they had before, the noise resounding through the room for a full ten seconds. He folded his arms over his chest and looked down at the intruders before him. "Alright, I'm listening. You have one minute to explain, or I'll personally kick you out of here."

Serenity slinked over to stand with her brother as Yugi said, "We're sorry about doing this so secretly. But we only did it so we could find a way to help you without you killing us all before we said a word. You know you need the help, Kaiba."

"I already have help," he growled. "The mutt's sister volunteered."

"If more of us help, you'll have a better chance of finding your brother," Tea countered.

It wasn't good enough for the angry CEO. "And how do you think you are going to help me? Searching around the city like little Wheeler and I did yesterday? You don't need my permission to do that; city officials are already doing so. You can do the same if you want."

It was silent for a moment, then Yugi piped up once more. "If there's another way we can help, then we'll do it."

Kaiba struggled to not let out all of his anger. "Look here," he explained in exaggerated patience. "The only other way to help is to use what's called the computer. Now, I'm sure none of you really know how to operate one well enough to issue what's needed to help find my brother."

"I know how to use a computer, Kaiba!" Joey exploded. "Whatever you think of us, we're smarter than that!"

"Really," he drawled, his voice turning dry. "Do you know anything of writing commands into a computer and making it understand?" He tried to keep it as simple as he could, knowing some of them wouldn't understand a thing he said if he made it any more complicated. "Can any of you work more than one computer at once? No. Let's rephrase that. Do any of you even know how to open or close a file?"

None of them answered, not even wanting to defend their pride by saying they did know how to open and close a file. "I thought so," he said, satisfied.

"Then why are you letting Serenity help you?" challenged Duke.

Serenity sweat dropped, but let Kaiba answer for her, knowing he would bring it home better than she could. "She's in a computer class, unlike you, Devlin, and at least knows more than you do about the usage of it."

"And what are you trying to imply?"

"Nothing but the truth."

Serenity jumped in. "Um, guys, we…we need to get back to work. I'm sorry, but I think he's right about this. I can barely understand him; do you think you guys can understand him any better when none of you have even attended one computer class, much less three? I think you should wait for him to think of some other way you can help him first. Right, Kaiba?"

He almost yelled at the girl at those words, then let it be with a long sigh. "Yes, yes. Just leave me in peace for the rest of the day." He ran a hand through his hair. "Get yourselves out of here. When we're done with today, I'll think about it. And I'll call you people if I think of something. If."

They settled for what he said. After all, what else could they do? With a few scattered good-byes, they left the two to finish their work of finishing the program to search for Mokuba.

* * *

So that's it for this chapter. I was going to add more, but it was starting to get long and I decided that since you people wouldn't review, I wouldn't put up as much. It's a little bit of torture. So now, maybe you'll learn your lesson. Only one person really knows this, and it's Bingbing. Learn from her. She reviews every single chapter.

C ya later!


	5. Chapter V

Long time no see! Sorry if this chapter is a bit weird, but I have writer's block right now. Well, sort of. I know exactly what I want to say, but I can't make it flow right. Everything sounds kinda choppy. This was supposed to be my best chapter yet because of the stuff in it, but I guess it won't be. Actually, you choose. People always tell me I put my standards for myself too high.

Thanks to:

**Bingbing**: I love the ice/cinnamon-melting thing, too! It's not really my idea, though, because lots of other authors use the idea. I think mine's a little different, though. And I changed the chapter a little bit, because after reading it for about the third time, I realized it was a bit too colorful, too. Another thing: I have no idea what you meant by the influential not politician thing about Kaiba. I don't know what's so political about him…And thanks for the compliment for that one scene! I didn't like it too much, though. I just needed the descriptions. What I meant by Kaiba almost yelling at Serenity—when people get mad, they usually manage to lose their temper, especially someone like Kaiba. So what I meant was that he never lost his temper at her. He usually loses his temper at whatever's nearest, doesn't he?

Okay, I know that was long, but I felt like I needed to answer all of her questions. And since no one else reviewed, I thought I would spend my time. No one else needs an answer, do they?

I also forgot to do something on all of my previous chapters: Thank you to my sister also for proofreading my story before I post it. I guess she's my beta, but she just tells me some suggestions--she didn't even tell me there were typos here (I reposted it an hour after I first posted it. My friend told me the mistakes). Thanks to her anyway (I doubt she's ever going to read this part anyway…I put this here because she's bugging me about it. She doesn't read my story after she proofreads it. Why would she need to, after all?)

On with the story!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the disclaimer, too. I don't own Yugioh. And I never will. I don't even think I really want to…

* * *

A week had gone by with no success. The program had been finished, and was now being used to no avail. More squads had been sent out to search for the missing brother of the young CEO of KaibaCorp, but none had found a trace. Even with all the technology at their disposal, Kaiba and Serenity had not found a single clue to where Mokuba could be. Even searching by a subtler means of finding him led them nowhere. By now, spirits were low and patience was short.

Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, and others who had volunteered to help were not able to do much other than search around the streets like Kaiba had sarcastically told them. He had not even tried to reach them, and by the looks of it, had not even bothered to think of what they could do to help. They had tried several more times to get his attention, but nothing worked. No plans could be thought up of that were not already being resorted to, and the lack of information and tools helped them no more.

Kaiba said nothing about what he thought of the whole thing, but it was obvious. Serenity could tell just by looking at him that he was stressed and impatient at how slow their progress was. He snapped more and more often, and cussed almost everyday about one thing or another. Slight shadows were present underneath his eyes. Who could blame him, though, when he had to do so much by himself and had so many distractions from work and the population? Serenity tried to find ways to help him, from things as simple as keeping quiet when he was in a bad temper to greater things such as getting him a little something when she saw he needed it. It calmed him down little by little, but she was not sure it helped much. Her presence seemed like a nuisance to him sometimes. He never took his anger out on her, though. She was grateful for that. Rather, he seemed to treat her nicer than anyone else. She supposed it was because she was helping him.

Today was no different from all of the weekdays since last Monday. Serenity had gotten a ride to KaibaCorp from school once more, and they had immediately gone to work as soon as they arrived. Fifteen minutes had been spent in the control room to supervise the work and to see if any progress was made. From there, they had gone to Kaiba's office. She worked almost as a personal secretary while he managed the company. Few words were spoken between them except for a few orders to do this or that. Today, Monday, October 25, was no different.

All day had been busy from all of the tasks Kaiba had told her to do, and Serenity had just now finished at five o'clock. She knew she would be leaving soon, since her brother believed it was a crime to leave his sister with Seto Kaiba for longer than two hours, especially when it was turning dark. Standing beside the CEO's gigantic desk, she waited for him to finish so she could get her things and leave.

She stood there for a total of five minutes before he even acknowledged her. He looked at her from the corner of his eyes for a second, then asked, "Did you finish?" She nodded.

He glanced at the clock on his desk, then sighed. "You can't stay any longer, can you? Because your brother is afraid of me?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "You can go."

She picked up her things from the corner of the room by the door, then looked back. "Umm, you're going to be here late, aren't you?"

That made him look up from his work. He had a strange expression on his face. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I, um…I just…wanted to know." Giving her one last look, Kaiba went back to his work. "See you tomorrow," she said softly as she walked out the door.

Serenity took the elevator and walked out of the building in a sort of thoughtful daze. Her brother, waiting outside the doors for her, saw the look on her face and immediately jumped to conclusions. "What did he do to you?" he commanded. Serenity was expecting it, knowing that he did it every day and would keep doing it every day because he held such a grudge against Kaiba.

"Nothing, big brother. I'm just thinking about something."

"About what?" he asked suspiciously.

She smiled up at him. "Oh, nothing to be bothered about." Her face fell as her thoughts abruptly shifted. "I still have so much homework to do. I'll never finish it."

"Yes you will. Come on, or we'll never get a chance to eat, either."

"You're just making an excuse because you're so hungry."

"Of course I am. But I'm making no excuse."

"Yes, you are, because it wouldn't matter how late we get home, we'd still have something to eat."

"That's not fair. How come you always catch me?"

"You don't want to ask, Joey. You really don't."

* * *

Later that night, Serenity was in her room frowning at the computer. Dinner had long since been finished, and her homework had been completed for a while now. However, she still looked like she had something to worry about—which she did.

A window was up on the computer screen before her, though blank, except for a greeting. Every once in awhile, she would bring her hands to the keyboard and type in something; then read what she had just typed and fix something. Papers were sitting messily before her on the table with paper and pencil, and she would shuffle through them and write on something. She made the perfect picture of being stressed out.

_Why can't I do this right? I really need to finish this soon or else Joey's going to get nosy again. _She sighed, running her hand through her hair. _What is wrong with me?_

She minimized her window and brought up the media player instead, choosing a playlist and playing it. Usually, music helped her calm down, as did drawing. But right now, she didn't have time to draw. Leaving it to play on a soothing song, she reopened the other window and closed her eyes, letting the music flow over her.

As the music played, she became more relaxed. After a while, she was able to think of what it was she wanted to type. Opening her eyes but not escaping her trance, she began typing. This time, the words seemed to come out the right way. She didn't feel like she was really thinking of what it was she was typing, but rather just spilling out what was necessary. For some reason, all of it seemed right: not too straightforward, but not too pointless either. As she finished part of it, she read over it again for mistakes and found it to be how she wanted it to be. Perfect.

She shut off the music so she could really concentrate on what she needed to write, now that she was not so stressed out. With the hardest part done—the beginning—the rest was simpler. There were still a few pauses, but they were short and what she needed came to her quick enough. It was finished in less than ten minutes.

Serenity read over it once more, then found it agreeable and saved it. Looking at the clock, she found it to be no later than eight o'clock. "Good, I'll still have time to spend with my brother," she murmured to herself.

* * *

Kaiba looked the clock sitting before him on his desk at KaibaCorp. It read ten o'clock. He had absolutely no hope of going home tonight. He still had to catch up on all of the work that had been put off little by little with the search for his little brother. Every day, it seemed that he fell behind a little more unless he worked into the late hours at night. Nowadays, it seemed as if the office had become his first home and the real home his second, instead of the usual order. Not that he liked it.

He closed his eyes for a second, rubbing his temples. His eyes were catching up with all of the strain, too. Sighing, he reached forward and saved all of his work. Leaving the computer on, he got up and walked over to the large window behind him.

The world outside seemed so different then his empty office room. The streets were still somewhat busy with people, though not nearly as crowded as they were in the daytime hours. Cars drove by, free of traffic, between the alternating light and dark buildings. Their windows shined with soft yellow glows as people stayed in to do last minute work. Out on the streets, lighted signs glowed in all sorts of different colors, some flashing, others staying on constantly. A few couples strolled underneath them hand in hand, enjoying a night stroll with a loved one.

The last sight jolted him. He had no one to walk with right now; no loved one to hold hands with. Unconsciously, his hand rose to the card pendant hanging from his neck and opened it with a click. His eyes then strayed down, though they saw nothing but distant memories. _Mokuba_, he called out silently. _Where are you, little brother?_

He stayed there for a moment longer, reminiscing and lost in his own bleak world. His thoughts eventually turned to the girl that he saw almost every day since his life had made a turn. Why did she want to help him so much? It wasn't just Mokuba anymore, he knew that. The little speech she had given in the car, the little favors done every once in a while, the smiles she always gave so freely. It just didn't make sense. Who wanted to make friends with him, the man who kept himself so distanced away from others because he hurt so much? He didn't pretend to understand it. The girl didn't even seem affected by how he acted.

Maybe it was her innocent act that made her so unaware of who he really was. Even her brother had figured out he was no one to hang out with. Being such a smart girl herself, could she not figure out such a simple thing herself? He was a broken man now, with nothing to depend on and nothing to hold on to. Especially if his brother was gone. There was nothing left in his life but the need to sustain his brother, like he had promised to do so long ago. Could she not see this for herself? It frustrated him to no end that she ignored him like this; it even hurt him a bit.

_You act like you have to be the best in the world, and that your way is the only way to achieve that goal. Life doesn't have to be like that, you know. Those that have a content life make it that way without trying to be the best, but by trying to do their best for themselves and others. Just because your past was terrible, it doesn't mean you should try to forget it by pushing yourself so hard and by shutting everything else out. Does it really make you content to live that way?_ Her words played again in his head. _There's a famous saying that goes, 'Live life to the fullest.' How do you live a full and satisfied life with no one to share it with? Like a friend, or someone you care about. What's left in life with coldness and no happiness other than the pain you store there?_

As much as he wanted to deny it, he knew all that she said was true. The words haunted him like ghosts. They made him think over his life again and doubt himself. Even more, they made his head spin trying to solve it. Why couldn't he get rid of those thoughts? They were nothing new from what Yugi and his friends tried to tell him so many times before. What made them so different?

He shook his head to wake himself up. He realized that he was still staring into the picture of his brother and dropped the locket back onto his chest after closing it. Staring out the window a moment longer, he turned back to his desk to resume his work.

His eyes scanned over his desktop like they always did before opening a program. He thought to open his work up again and continue his job, but something snagged his attention. A little icon was flashing, indicating an email—a non-business email. His eyes opened a bit in surprise. Mokuba couldn't send one, for he was somewhere out in the rest of the world. Who, then, would know his email and send something friendly to him? His curiosity got the better of him. He clicked it open.

_Dear Seto Kaiba_, it read. _Guess who it is? I'm not going to tell you, but I think you know. You still remember me, don't you?_

_I guess I'm writing for this reason, mostly: Happy Birthday! _The line completely surprised him. He had almost forgotten today was October 25 because of all he had been through and all the stress put on him. _I'm sorry if it sounds a little silly, but I thought that you might like a little friendly letter—you know, after all that's happened. Everyone needs a little happiness in his or her life every once in a while, so hopefully this will cheer you up a bit._

_Mokuba's still somewhere close by, did you know that? Okay, not literally. Sorry if it gave you a bit of a scare. But he told me a little something about a week ago—it was about you. He said that your birthday was coming up soon, and he wanted to do something special because it was almost always forgotten. He said that you always worked so hard and never spent time to enjoy life, so he wanted to do something that you would remember for a long time. So he asked me for an idea about what to do, what I thought would be good. _

_I told him my idea the next day as soon as I saw him. I guess I can tell you now, huh? It won't really matter now, since your birthday is already here and it's a little late to work on it anyway. We were going to get a bunch of pictures of you and Mokuba and put it together in a little scrapbook, along with a bit of other small things. He said I could put some stuff of my own in it since I was helping him, but I decided that it was between you two and I should just help him a bit. We never even got a chance to start, though, except to collect a few pictures._

_Now that we can't do it anymore, I thought to make it up to you with this. It's nothing much, but I think that Mokuba really wants to do something this time. It's a smaller version, I guess. _

_Hope you enjoy it!_

_Sincerely, _

_Guess who?_

_PS—Can I call you Seto?_

There was nothing else on the page except for a link on the bottom of the page. He scanned through the letter once more to make sure that was what he wanted to click on, then opened it. The page opened at once, revealing a large window decorated from edge to edge.

Thoughts and memories ran through Kaiba's head immediately as his eyes took in what was before him. A large portrait of him and Mokuba was in the middle, his little brother hanging from his neck and peeking from above his left shoulder. The joyful smile on his little brother's face sent a jolt of guilt and pain through him as he remembered that day years ago. To the left of it was another picture of Mokuba, a candy bar in one hand and his other hand raised up and waving. A cheerful smile lit his face. On the right was a picture of Seto in with a less cheerful and more serious expression on his face. Under the portraits was a small paragraph of words: "_Dedicated to Seto Kaiba, who has worked so hard for his brother's happiness and love, never backing down from those words and never breaking that promise._"

Kaiba couldn't see for a moment as the memories ran before him in a giant flood. _You don't know me that well_, he thought. _I don't even know myself half as well as I claim to_.

Under the words were links to the next several pages. A few of them were small galleries with more pictures of him and Mokuba, put in chronological order from the days in the orphanage to just the last few years. Some of them he recognized; others were almost forgotten and took awhile to place when they were taken. He saw himself once more as not just a protective brother but a best friend. Smiles were on both faces, instead of on just one. Even the shortage of pictures from times earlier in their life did not minimize the love that was apparent between them. As the pages were turned, though, there were less and less pictures that showed their brotherly relationship. Mokuba was still the same, happy and content, but something was missing. The loss was even more apparent in his brother. Kaiba's heart twisted inside as he saw what he had become, little by little, grown mature too fast and distant even faster. He could barely bring himself to look at the bottom of the last gallery. Even though all the pictures had signs of happiness, most of them did not seem to fit there.

The next page lifted his spirits. It was another gallery, though this one was different. It was filled from corner to corner with gray lines and splotches of color—his brother's drawings. They ranged from simple sketches to complete masterpieces; favorite duel monsters to attempted portraits. Many of them were drawn when they were still at the orphanage, and all of those had been gifts to him with scrawling that said "To: Seto". They looked ridiculous to him now, with the messy manuscript and the not-few sorely out-of-perspective drawings, but they all made him feel warm inside. _What would this look like if they had really gone through all of their plans?_ he wondered. _How much more heartwarming would this have been if Mokuba was beside me to share these memories?_

With one last look at the artwork, he opened the last page. On it was a perfectly depicted picture of his little brother, down to the last detail. He stared at it for a few moments. Mokuba's expression and personality was caught like light in a glass, happy and hopeful yet sad and hurt. They burned into Seto's eyes, almost accusing. Once again, the guilt and pain rose back to the surface.

He sighed softly to himself, ridding his eyes from that life-like gaze. Underneath the portrait was a note.

'_I always wanted to tell big brother this, but I'm afraid of what he will say. So I'm writing this here instead, and I hope that one day I can say this to him. I hope that someday I'll have his courage and I'll be able to do this right._

_Big brother, you're my hero. I know it sounds stupid, but it's true. You're always brave enough to stand up for me, and you always keep those bullies away from me. And when I cry, you always cheer me up. You always stay with me so I can have someone to play with, even though you know that you can make more friends if you pretend you didn't know me. You're my bestest friend in the world, I hope you know that._

_I wish I could be more like you. You're always so strong. When will I become as strong as you? You never cry and never get hurt, not like everyone else does. Will I ever be able to do that? I wish I could be as smart as you, too. That way, people would see me instead of acting like I'm not there. _

_I hope you know that I love you more than anything else in the world, big brother. I hope that I'll be like you someday, too.' _

_PS—Mokuba had a picture of you two in an orphanage, and he lent it to me. This was written on the back._

Slowly, Seto closed the window. He barely knew what he was doing when he turned the chair back to the large view of the outside world. Once more, he did not see it. He was lost in his deep thoughts once more, reclined in his comfortable seat. An elbow on a slack arm across his torso, chin on fisted fingers, he closed his eyes until he felt he had regained control of himself.

Why did he even read the message? It hadn't been important; he had known before he opened it that it didn't need to be read. Something told him that if he hadn't been so lazy so that he had read the subject and sender's name, he wouldn't be going through this right now. He ignored it, knowing that it was only his self-discipline that made him think that way and not his sense—if it had been sense, he wouldn't have to tell himself that he was going through almost too much to handle right now. Still, he knew it was true. But it was not the girl's fault. She had no intention to hurt him or to make him more stressed out; it had only been a small gift as an attempt to raise his spirits and to remind him about the little things between him and Mokuba. He doubted that she had even thought that the gift could wound.

But it did. It had freshened the scar in his heart that he had tried to conceal for the past years. Did he dare to keep the gift after all? What good would it do to have it if he never looked at it again? He was almost tempted to delete the message and forget about the whole thing. Yet he knew he couldn't do that. It was a gift, and one that his brother had been looking forward to the whole time. He couldn't do something like this to him.

The gift hadn't been from his brother, though. It was from Mokuba's best friend. He didn't need to keep it now, though, did he? With the decision firmly in his mind, he swiveled his chair around to face the computer and reached for the mouse. He reached up to the icons on the top—

And clicked the "move" button, then made a file for it.

He surprised himself for a moment, wondering if his hands all of a sudden had just gotten a life of their own and done exactly what he hadn't wanted done. Then he knew that what he did was what he had wanted to do. He wanted to share this with his brother someday, to remember all the things they had been through together. And more importantly, he didn't want to hurt the young girl who was only trying to help. Why be so depressed on what was supposed to be a good day?

Or night, Seto reflected as he dug in his desk for a disk. After all, there were only—he checked the clock—one-and-a-half hours until October 26. He slipped the disk into the computer by his side and began to burn the file into the CD. Then, he put her email address into his address book by the ones Mokuba used and thought with lighter spirits, _It's your turn next, Serenity Wheeler_.

He added two more words as an afterthought. _Thank you_.

* * *

That's it for this chapter. The next chapter might not be up until three or four weeks later. I'm going to be busy for the next two weeks with all of the end of the year projects and stuff, and then I'll be gone to Canada the week right after school ends. I'll try to post it before I go, though. And will somebody please review? No one is doing so right now… 


	6. Chapter VI

Sorry for not updating so long. I've been busy with school projects, but after that, I went on a vacation to Canada. I didn't bring a laptop with me because my dad didn't let me, so I couldn't work on this until I got home a week later. So I have finally finished this chapter.

Thanks for the reviews!

**Bingbing**: Thanks for the compliment. And thanks for pointing out my typos…I fixed them!

**Seto'sfan001**: Thanks again for the compliment! I'm glad my writing is so touching!

**Angel19902005**: You know, that's the first time anyone's ever said that to me other than a teacher. Thanks so much for that compliment! That made my day! (Bingbing and Seto'sfan001's reviews did too, but this one was especially touching to me 'cause it was to me)

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh…still don't, never will, and don't want to because some people would hate my ideas…

* * *

"Hurry up, Serenity!" Joey called. "They're going to be here in five minutes!"

"I know!" she called back. "I'm almost done."

The two Wheeler siblings were spending Saturday afternoon with Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Duke, and Ryou. Nothing much was planned after having lunch together, but all of them had agreed to dress in something decent. Or at least the girls did, anyway. Mai was going to meet them a little later, so Serenity had at least two others to judge her style.

Serenity came down a minute later in a cute white halter-top and denim pants, a belt around her waist. Her hair was down like always, and her face was clean of makeup. "Are they here yet?"

Joey turned and said, "Not yet." When he caught sight of his little sister, his expression changed to something akin to surprise. "Where did you get that shirt from, Serenity? I didn't buy that for you."

"I know you didn't," she answered. "Mai and Tea helped me pick it out the last time we went shopping together because they said I needed something more fashionable. They bought it for me. Do you like it?" She looked up eagerly at Joey.

"Um, not really, to tell you the truth. It doesn't look like you."

"Of course it doesn't!" She didn't seem the least bit fazed by what he had said. "I look different, don't I?"

"I guess," her brother said, a little overwhelmed. He turned back to the window, thinking, _When did my sister become like this?_ Not that he didn't like it, of course. It looked pretty nice on her, but it still looked…different.

"They're here!" Joey suddenly burst out, jumping away from the window and running madly towards the front door. "Come on, let's go!"

Serenity followed at a more mannerly pace. She took the house keys that her brother had left behind on a small table as she went out the door, hearing him call out, "Hey, guys!" She waved to Tea, who was the only one looking in her direction, then closed the door behind her and locked it.

"You look nice, Serenity," Tea said admiringly as she approached. "That's the shirt we bought you, right?"

Serenity nodded. "Yep. You look really nice, too." Tea had on a black spaghetti-strap and a baby blue miniskirt, her hair in a small ponytail. Earrings and a necklace hung from her ears and neck. "You should put up your hair more often. It's cute on you."

"Thanks," she replied happily.

Joey, Yugi, Duke, Tristan and Ryou drifted over. "What's this, a dress out or something?" Duke asked. "Why are you guys so dressed up? Who are you trying to impress?" Duke winked at Serenity, twirling a strand of raven-black hair around his index finger. "Anyone else coming along that I haven't heard from?"

"No," Tea said, a bit ruffled at his remarks. "We just decided to take advantage of our day away from school uniform and wear something nice. What are you worried about, anyway?"

"We're just having some fun," Serenity added hastily.

"So where are we going?" Joey interrupted eagerly. "Where we gonna eat?"

Tristan looked over at Joey crossly. "Can't you wait for just a few minutes?"

"Hey, I'm hungry!"

"Alright, alright," Yugi put in hastily. "We'll go find someplace to eat. Where do you suggest? Anyone have a preference?"

"Pizza!" Joey and Tristan shouted instantly. Ryou and Yugi exchanged a glance, and Duke simply sweatdropped. Tea and Serenity sighed.

"I don't really care," Ryou told them.

"Are you guys okay with that?" Yugi asked them. "Tea? Serenity? Duke? It's fine with you?" They nodded, not bothering to disagree with the idea of the two starving boys. "Alright then. I guess we're going there." He turned to Joey and Tristan, who were giving each other high fives and jumping up and down. "Joey, Tristan…" He trailed off.

Tea scowled. "Joey! Tristan! We're going, all right? Stop putting up the act and lets get going, or else you can think about not eating anywhere instead!"

"Yes!" the two shouted in exuberance. They gave each other a high five once more.

Sighing and trying to hide the smile on her face, Serenity followed her bickering friends. "Your brother and Tristan are total idiots," Tea whispered to her. She smiled in reply.

* * *

Serenity sipped at the remains of her soda, content after eating three slices of pepperoni pizza. She picked idly at the crumbs left on her plate as she listened to her friends chatter and argue. It felt good to be with them. Ever since Mokuba had gone missing, she had been busy with Kaiba and school and had seen little of her friends. It was pure coincidence that they had all been able to get together today, since there was always someone that needed to do work or something of the sort.

Tea, who was sitting next to her, poked her in the ribs. "Hello?" she called, waving a hand before her face. "Weren't you listening to a thing we just asked you?"

"Huh?" Serenity said in surprise. "Sorry. I was dozing off a bit. What?"

"We were wondering if there was a job opening from Kaiba yet. We were talking about dueling tournaments, and then we got around to Mokuba. So, is there any offer?"

Serenity shook her head. "No. Not yet. We've been really busy with a bunch of things. He has a lot to handle, so I think he hasn't really had time to think about it much yet."

Joey scowled. "What does he need to do? He has millions of people that work under him. I think that's just an excuse. Sis, you should just leave him to do the work alone. That spoiled ass needs to learn how to work for himself. You don't even get money or anything from it. What's the use?"

"Joey!" Tea gasped. "How can you be so selfish? Mokuba is your sister's best friend. Not everything in the world needs a solid reward like money!"

Joey stuttered for a second. "He's a jerk! I don't want Serenity to become anything like him!"

His sister simply looked at him as he blabbered on. She saw Yugi glance over at her with a worried expression, then say, "Joey, I think you should watch what you're saying."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Serenity cut in hastily. "It's okay, big brother." She fumbled for a way to change the topic so she wouldn't have to explain. "Um, do any of you know when Mai's going to be off work?"

Tea dug through her small purse thoughtfully. "I have my cell phone. We can call her." She checked it for the time. "It's five minutes past one. She should be off by now, right? Where do you want to meet her?" She busied herself by dialing in Mai's number.

"What do you guys want to do for the rest of the afternoon?" Joey asked. "Maybe we can go to Yugi's place for awhile."

"Actually, Grandpa's really busy, so we can't do that." Yugi smiled. "Sorry, guys."

"Hmmm…" Ryou looked thoughtful. "We could go watch a movie at the theaters. Do any of you guys know of any good movies that are out?"

Tristan shook his head. "Nah, no movies. Something else."

The gang stayed quiet awhile, until Tea cleared her throat. "Guys, I have a call to make. Where do you want to meet her?"

"What about my game shop?" Duke suggested. "We can just park there, and then take a stroll around and do whatever." He shrugged. "Can't think of anything else."

No one objected. "Duke's shop it is, then." She proceeded to excuse herself and walk out the door. Serenity heard a faint "Hey, Mai, it's Tea" before the crowd drowned her out. The rest of them finished their lunch and drinks. Duke paid, since he wouldn't let anyone else do it, then they cleared out and followed Tea out into the street.

Tea met them a few feet from the entrance, putting her phone into her purse once more. "Okay, we're meeting her at Duke's place. She's going to be there in about ten minutes. Let's get going."

"When we get there," Duke started, talking to Serenity, "I'll give you a tour of the place. How about it?"

"Sure," Serenity answered, not really sure about it.

"It's really grand," he went on after her answer. "It's not just a bunch of people there, you know. There are a lot of game rooms and things like that. I'm sure you'll enjoy it…" Serenity barely heard Duke going on and on.

* * *

"There's Mai!" Joey exclaimed as they got in sight of Duke's huge game shop. "Come on!"

Hearing Joey's loud voice, Mai turned around to face them. "Hey, Joey. Hey, guys. Are you having fun so far?" She walked around her car towards them, twirling her keys around her index finger. "Tea, Serenity, you look nice. I was hoping you wouldn't forget so I would be the only one in style."

Tea nodded appreciatively as the boys grumbled. Serenity mumbled a thank you with a glow on her face.

"Well, you look as good as always," Tea commented, "if not better." The blonde had a spaghetti strap and a small jacket like usual, except they were pink and white instead of purple. For once, she had pants on instead of a skirt—expensive looking jeans that fit her perfectly. She still had her heels on, and hoops still adorned her ears.

"Thanks, hun." She looked around, then asked, "So where are we going? Are we going to stand here all day?"

It was quiet. "Hello, did anyone hear me?" Mai waved a hand in an exaggerated manner before them. Her keys had dropped into her other palm. "Where are we going?"

Joey smiled sheepishly and opened his mouth, but Ryou beat him to it. "Uh, actually, we haven't really decided on anything."

"Not yet," Yugi added quickly.

"Yeah," Duke and Tristan chimed in, sounding foolish. They looked at each other, then Duke continued, "We were waiting for you to decide."

"Oh, really," she said, a skeptical look on her face. "Whatever you say. Well, I don't have a preference. Where do you guys want to go?" Nobody answered. "It seems like we're not doing anything today," Mai sighed.

"I know! I have a super idea!" Joey suddenly burst out. "We can come over to my house and play video games!"

Serenity inwardly winced. "Umm…Joey, I don't think so…" In truth, their house was not the best place to spend an afternoon, especially with friends. They hadn't really cleaned up, and she definitely didn't want them to see how unorganized they were. "We can play video games at someone else's house…"

She spoke in such a small voice that they barely heard her. "Hey, that's a great idea!" Tristan immediately turned around and started running off in the direction of the Wheeler household. "Let's go!"

The guys all headed off after him, but Tea and Mai had heard Serenity and turned around to look at her. "What did you say, hun?" Mai questioned.

"Oh, nothing," Serenity replied hastily. "It wasn't important. Shouldn't we be following them?"

Tea and Mai exchanged a glance. Mai shrugged. "Come on. If we don't hurry up, we're going to lose them."

"It doesn't really matter," Serenity replied. "They don't have the keys, and we know the way."

Mai winked. "Are you saying that we should leave them at the front door for awhile? You know, to get them annoyed?"

"Um…uh…not—not really…"

"Stop it, Mai. You're making her uncomfortable."

"Hey there, I was just joking around."

"It—It's okay…"

"Let's just forget about this. Get going."

* * *

As Mai predicted, the rest of the gang was standing before the front door. "They look a little impatient, wouldn't you say?" Tea commented.

Serenity looked over at the boys. "Maybe we should have hurried a little…" The boys were all resting against the doorway, looking tired and not just a little spent. Yugi looked the least tired, standing on his own but still a little bent over. The rest were all leaning against the wall and the door for support. All of them were red and needing some air. "They really did run all the way over here…" Shaking her head, she walked over to them and took out her keys. Mai and Tea followed her.

"You finally got here!" Tristan exploded. "We've been waiting forever out here for you to catch up!"

"Well, hun," Mai replied, "you could have told your old buddy Joseph Wheeler to get the keys. Or you could have been a bit more considerate and not run off without us."

"Just open the door already," Ryou said tiredly.

Serenity hurried to the door and put the key into the lock. Five seconds later, the door was open. "Sorry for keeping you waiting. I didn't know that you would run all the way over here."

"It's alright, Serenity." Joey walked past and didn't look over. "We're in the house now. So, what do we play?"

Something ringing interrupted them. They all looked at each other for a few seconds until they realized that it was the phone making the noise. "Oh, um, I'll get it. You guys can go on and play whatever it was you were going to play. I'll be right back." Serenity rushed to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?"

_"Wheeler."_

Serenity started at the cold voice. "Kaiba?" she asked in a hushed tone. She looked around quickly to make sure the others hadn't noticed.

_"Who else? Listen. I just got a signal that may tell me where to find Mokuba."_

"Really?"

An exasperated sigh came over the phone. _"Just listen. He's located at the park where we searched over a week ago. If we want to find him, we need to get there soon. The reading tells me that he's not alone. Some other people are with him. I'm guessing that they're holding him captive, and that's why we haven't found him in so long. Are you coming or not?"_

"Uh…um…I guess…" Serenity stuttered.

_"Are you or are you not? Because if you aren't, then I'm going alone. I only called because you said you wanted to help…"_ He trailed off meaningfully.

"Alright, I'm coming. I just need to tell my brother first."

_"Are you sure? It'll be dangerous."_

She hesitated for a half a second. "Yes."

_"I'll meet you at the fountain in the middle. If not, then find the biggest crowd—it shouldn't be too hard—and we'll most likely be there."_

"Okay. See you there."

She didn't even bother to hear if he said anything else. She knew he probably just hung up the phone like she did. Also, even though she hadn't shown it, she had been anxious. "Joey!" she called as she skidded into the room. "They've found Mokuba! I'll be back soon!"

She had put on her jacket and was about to run out the door when someone grabbed her collar and dragged her back gently but firmly. "Not so fast," a deep voice said. "What if there's danger?"

Turning around, Serenity saw that it was…the other side of Yugi. "It'll be fine. Kaiba and his guards will be there. See you in a little while!"

Unfortunately, that didn't do it either. "Come back here, Serenity. Even they can't do everything. Every other time Mokuba was taken, there was a greater danger involved. We'll go with you." Yami's deep voice echoed in her ears.

"Huh?" The words stopped her. "But—but—" She tried to find a way to stop them. She knew Kaiba wouldn't appreciate all of them there.

"But nothing, sis. We're going with you."

"But Kaiba won't like it!" she burst out.

Mai waved her hand in the air in a lazy manner. "He won't need to think about us if Mokuba's in trouble. Of course, he won't be grateful, either, but we'll help anyway. Besides, you aren't thinking about going to wherever it is you're going to by foot, are you? Sounds pretty urgent to me."

Serenity tried one last time, then gave up. "Alright! But we need to hurry! We're meeting at the park by my school!" She rushed out the door.

"She could at least wait one second for us," Ryou grumbled. They all ran out after her. It was barely a minute before they were packed into Joey's and Mai's cars and on the way to the park.

* * *

Dun dun dun! What do you think will happen next? I'll give you a clue: this is nowhere near the end of the story. Well, that's kinda obvious, considering this is a SetoxSerenity story and that nothing has happened yet. So I'll give you another: it's not going to be your first impression. But maybe I'll take someone's ideas, since I'm still a bit vague about the next part…

Sorry for the short chapter. Mostly, this was written to lead to the next chapter. As for that, it may be awhile until I update again, since I have a bunch of summer camps taking up my whole summer. I'll try to do so as much as I can. Oh yeah, and sorry about some of the mistakes in here. I know that Joey and Serenity live in an apartment, but I made them live in a small house to make it easier. Maybe I should have put this before…oh well. Forgive me for any other mistakes I've made.

Review, please!


	7. Chapter VII

Sorry for the long wait! I've been busy with forensics camp and band camp, which I was at since last Saturday. Now I finally get to use the computer again!

Thanks to:

**Bingbing**: You have so many comments, I have no idea how to answer them. Am I supposed to? Well, most of the chapter was written that way because I had a huge lack of vocabulary memory in my brain…But I'm happy you liked the other parts. The only thing is: With all of your comments, why do you say that it's hard to find anything wrong? And you're not nitpicking. You're helping. And what was awful about my clues? Is it because they're too easy or are they making no sense or something else? I hope I answered all of your questions and stuff…

**xXRoseGoddess874Xx**: I'll check them out. I promise.

**Anonymous** that I know very well: Yeah, I thought the descriptions were a little off, too, but I didn't really know how else to do it. And the reason was in the chapter, actually. I like your joke, though!

**lilxangelxsweetz**: Thanks!

Also, I've fixed the first chapter. I realized that if I wanted to make people like each other and be serious about it, they could at least be in high school so they wouldn't just be another not-so-sensible couple on the street. So feel free to read it again. If you don't want to, then it's fine, too. But I put this down because it's important to have this for a future chapter. If you didn't read this, then don't complain to me about it. I put it up…

Here is the next chapter to World of Black and White!

* * *

The only thing Serenity saw when she jumped out of her brother's car were a huge crowd, three police cars with their sirens going off, and a helicopter flying in the air. Several shouts rang through the air, the most recognizable being Seto Kaiba's furious voice. A few, which Serenity thought most likely belonged to the policemen, were yelling at the crowd to step away. There were more that taunted.

"What the…" Joey froze halfway out of his car. "Serenity, you never said anything about the police and…"

"I—I—Kaiba never told me there were any here…"

"We were right to come along," Yami said, interrupting them. "This is no place for a girl to be alone. But we do need to see if Kaiba's okay. I'll go check on him."

"There's no way you're going in there alone, Yugi. We're going too." Joey faced him squarely.

"Yeah," Tristan agreed. "You're not going in there unless we go."

"We all stick together." Tea smiled determinedly. "No one is going to do this alone."

Yami smiled. "Alright then. Just make sure you're all cautious. We don't know what is going on in the middle of there."

He was right to say that. Serenity, being one of the smallest of them, was the first to see what was happening. The sight stopped her at the inner edge of the crowd. Mokuba was bound, gagged, and blindfolded between two men in black suits, unsuccessfully trying to get away from his captors. Five more men in the same uniforms surrounded Kaiba, their guns drawn and pointed at the CEO. Another two were in the helicopter—they had stolen it, since it had the police department's insignia on it. The few actual policemen were still trying to push away the crowd, but were barely succeeding.

"I won't let you take my brother away," Kaiba was growling. His back was to her, but she could see a dangerous light flashing through his eyes, and could easily enough imagine his cold and calculating expression. "Neither will you get my company. Others with more skill than you have tried and have been unsuccessful."

The man standing before him, obviously the leader, simply laughed. "You don't know who we are. You've never seen anyone like us. So, it's either give us KaibaCorp or lose your little brother." Immediately, the two men guarding Mokuba took out guns and pointed them at him. Obviously hearing the noise and recognizing it for what it was, the younger Kaiba desperately pulled at the arms holding him. They only held him tighter.

"Excuse me, miss, but I'll need you to step back. This is not the place to be…" Serenity, who didn't notice that she was now inside the ring made by the crowd, didn't hear the officer at her side. She hadn't noticed that her brother and his friends had made it to the middle on the other side, either. "No! Mokuba!" she screamed.

Immediately, two guns that had been pointing at Kaiba faced her. Her eyes widened.

"Well, now," the man said. "Look what we have here. A little girl. What's her relation to you, Seto Kaiba? Your girlfriend?"

"She's nothing to me." His voice had gotten a more dangerous edge. He kept his back turned to her.

"Is that true? Well, what if we decided to shoot her…?" He raised his hand in a signal and two bullets immediately raced towards her.

Serenity screamed and ducked her head. Her brother shouted out her name and ran towards her, but he was too far away to do anything. The others shouted, too, but it was the same with them as with her brother—they could do nothing to help. _I'm going to die_, Serenity thought frantically. _I'll have done nothing to help Mokuba, and I won't help anymore_. She waited for the bullets. Sure enough, she heard two loud cracks. _I'm dead. Nothing's going to save me_.

Then she realized that she didn't feel any pain. She hadn't felt anything hit her. Yet she still felt—like she was still capable of feeling. She heard the silence and felt confused. She felt the wind whispering around her. She felt the solid ground beneath her feet. _I'm—I'm alive? But how?_ She dared to peek, and saw something white swishing before her: a trenchcoat. _Kaiba_, her mind whispered, surprised. His briefcase was on the ground; two smoking dents were burned into it. _He saved me?_ She straightened up slowly, her mind and heart racing. She stayed in Kaiba's protective shadow.

The man who had been speaking before opened his mouth, then closed it, having nothing to say. His face worked, and finally settled into a mask of rage. Opening his mouth once more, he finally got a noise out of his throat. "That wasn't…possible. No one can dodge two bullets at once and not get injured," he muttered to himself.

"It's possible when you've been dodging bullets your whole life from those who try to kill you for your possessions. My company being one of the biggest ones." He smirked.

The police looked at each other uncertainly. The bullets hadn't hurt anyone, but were they to arrest these people? They were few against the nine men. They turned back to the scene unfolding before them.

"I thought you said she was nothing to you. Why did you save her, then? Boys, I think we have something."

"Because I could," Kaiba answered, trying to stay calm. His voice betrayed him.

The man ignored him. "We have what we want. Let's go. And make sure nothing happens to the CEO's little brother. He's precious to us." He walked towards a rope ladder hanging out of the helicopter, which was now hovering only several yards above everyone's heads.

Kaiba immediately went after him. "You're not getting away that easily. You're a coward to just run away after a few missed bullets. They weren't even shot at you! I'll—"

"Let's go, boys!" The man quickly scrambled up the ladder and into the helicopter. His lackeys quickly followed, pushing Mokuba up between them. Even with his squirming, they got him up in a minute. "We'll see you again when you choose to cooperate, Seto Kaiba."

As the plane lifted away, Serenity looked at Kaiba, who was still standing where he had stopped before. Indecision flitted across his face and he quit his shouting. Obviously, he wanted to go after Mokuba. But he knew he wouldn't be able to get anything done that way. With a low growl emitted from the back of his throat, he snatched up his dented briefcase and stalked off. Serenity immediately hurried after him without a thought.

"Hey, Serenity! Wait up!" Joey's voice called out from behind her in the midst of the crowd, which was finally breaking apart. She didn't turn around. He caught up to her though, along with the rest of the gang, and stepped before her. "Are you okay?"

The rest of the gang surrounded her. "Uh—Yeah. Why not? Didn't you see the dents in Kaiba's briefcase?" Something flitted over her eyes. "I've got to go and ask him if he's okay. I'll be right back." She darted between Joey and Yugi, who were standing before her, and ran off before they could stop her.

"Kaiba, wait up!" she called. He didn't stop or even slow down, and she had to run even faster to even get close to him. "I need to ask you something!"

She was still running when he stopped. He just stood there, facing the opposite direction, until she was standing by him. However, she couldn't see his face. It was covered by his hair and shadows caused by the sun in the sky. "What do you want?" His voice was rough and filled with menace.

"I—I—I just wanted to say thank you," Serenity answered hesitantly. "For saving my life." He didn't answer her. "And—and I'm sorry that you couldn't get Mokuba back."

"What do you know?" he asked. He sounded as if he had knives and blades in his voice, cutting and sharp. "You're no help to me, even with all of your words and actions. What did you do? Stand there and become a hindrance. If it weren't for you, Mokuba would be right here. You've never done anything but be in my way." He stopped. "Like you are right now." The wind blew his hair away from his eyes, and they flashed a deep blue.

Serenity backed away a step, terrified of the man before her. She couldn't say anything.

He looked down at her, the ice in his eyes seeming to shoot down at her. They froze her.

Something in his expression changed, though, because his eyes became softer. He looked away. "I know I told you to come here. But leave. There's nothing to do here now." He stayed the way he was for a moment longer, silver briefcase in hand and the other in his pocket, then strode off.

Serenity was still gazing after him when her friends finally caught up with her. None of them said anything, though; instead, they all watched Kaiba walking off into the distance.

"Wow, poor guy," Ryou commented. "It must be hard on him."

"Yeah," Yugi agreed.

Mai turned to Serenity. "Hun, are you okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Everyone turned to the girl as soon as the words left Mai's mouth. Two spots of red blossomed on her cheeks. Why did all of them have to stare at her like that?

Joey put his hands on her shoulders and firmly turned her around to face him. "What happened, sis? Why did Kaiba…?"

Serenity hesitated. In truth, she had no idea. What could she say? With all of these people around her, could she simply say he was kind enough to? Especially with some of them that hated him so much? "I—I don't….know…" She didn't try to say anymore.

"Well, what did he say just then to you?" Duke retorted. "If he was acting anything like a jerk, he'll get his ass kicked!"

Tristan snorted. "And he'll get his ego deflated, too!"

This time, Serenity didn't even try to think of something to say. She should have known Duke and Tristan would act like this. She loved having them as friends—they were so kind to her—but sometimes, it went over. Of course, she knew that they had a crush on her, but she sometimes wished they would stop. Now was one of those times. She really wasn't in the mood.

Kaiba and what had happened still occupied her mind. She really needed to go somewhere and clear out her thoughts. "Um, Joey, can we go home now?" A pleading look was in her eyes.

"But what about our afternoon?"

"I can't believe that you're thinking of that after what just happened," Tea said. "We can always do this some other day. If you want to go home, you'll get to."

Mai nodded in agreement. "I'll bring you back."

"Thanks, Mai," Serenity said gratefully. But in the end, they all went back home, with the two siblings going back together.

* * *

When she finally reached home after Joey dropped off Tea and Yugi, Serenity went straight up to her room and closed the door behind her. The drive had been quiet enough to let her think, but that ride had only made the thoughts in her head even more confusing. What she really needed was the comforts of her own room.

The first thing she did in her room was to change into more comfortable clothes. As much as she like her new clothes, she didn't find them as comfortable as a sleeved shirt and soft pants. She left her shoes by the door and took off her socks, then relaxed on her bed for a few short moments. She didn't want to think about what had happened today, at least not yet. She wanted to forget about it and lose herself in the familiar surroundings of her room. Slowly, her eyes wandered the room. _If those bullets had hit me, would I have seen my room again? Would I ever be able to lay on my bed or sit at my desk anymore?_ She wanted the thoughts to stop, but she couldn't stop them. _Would I ever be able to hold a pencil and draw anymore? Would I ever have fun with my brother again?_

She shuddered, then got up and walked to her desk and dug out a CD player and a CD from a drawer. Before she could think those thoughts again, she popped in the disc and pressed the play button. Soft music drifted to her ears.

Serenity sat back down on her bed once more, calmed by the music. The music always soothed her, and sometimes she wondered why she hadn't tried to learn an instrument. _Because you were blind, remember? _a voice whispered.

Blind. She had been so blind to what had just happened an hour ago. If it hadn't been for Kaiba, she would have been dead. She had to admit she had been surprised when she found him standing before her. He didn't seem to be the type that would have such care left in his heart anymore, not for anyone but his little brother. Why had he cared enough to risk his life to save her, then? Was it really because he could? Like he had said? Or was the reason another secret he hid?

He could have let her die. After all, hadn't he said that she was only a bother to him and that she only got in his way? If she was gone, then he would be free to do whatever he wanted. He wouldn't have to worry about her tagging along.

But he had accepted her help in the first place, so of course he held some responsibility. If he hadn't wanted to take the extra load, he would have just said no to her like he had done to her brother and his friends. Letting her help meant help for something else. It was one of his virtues. He would never accept things for free. So once she gave something, she had to get something back. And what she got back was just as precious to her as Mokuba was to Kaiba—a chance to stay with her brother and her friends longer.

How did he know Mokuba would come back, though? What if Mokuba…never made it back? How would she repay him if something happened? As much as she hated thinking about it, she knew that was always a possibility. She had gotten the chance to live on once more; but would saving her friend be so easy? There was so much more that she didn't know the answers to. How she wished she knew!

More secrets. More hidden truths. More misunderstandings and less comprehension. Why was the world so complicated? It hadn't always seemed that way. When her bad eyesight had slowly taken over her life, all that seemed to be there was herself, her mother, her brother, and of course, the unmistakable presence of blindness. It had struck fear into her, and had kept her from believing anything except for the fact that she would never see again. Everything she had enjoyed—drawing, spending time with her brother, simply enjoying life—would be gone or changed. All she could have hoped for was a future where she would be accepted.

The money had come as a surprise, though. After that, she had learned to take nothing for granted. And one thing she would never take for granted was the kindness Kaiba had shown her. The man that was said to be as heartless as a rock by all of her friends. The one who cared for no one but his own brother. The man that had such high ambitions as to lead a worldwide company. He had never been seen to care for anything but those few things. His kindness had been hard earned, and her prize was compassion.

Yet did she really want it? All she was left with was a sort of hurt and mixed feelings. His first words to her when she stopped him had stung her badly. The apology afterwards only hurt her more. Even though what he said had been kind, his tone had made her feel even less wanted. She hated that feeling; she hated it because her father had treated her the same way. But she knew, in his way, Kaiba was trying his best to do what was right. To change how he was. The email had been read, she knew that. He had changed over the last few days.

She sighed in frustration. Why did her thoughts turn so much? Why couldn't they just leave her in peace? Now, she would never be free of these tangled thoughts. Not until she unraveled the secrets.

Now, she was left in the dust. How was finding all the keys to the secrets even possible for her? Mokuba was still gone, still missing, even though they had seen him. Kaiba had told her to leave. She was now out of resources to help them. What could she do now? As much as it hurt her, she couldn't just leave her best friend to get out on his own. Even with such an influential brother, he couldn't hope to be free so easily. And that wouldn't have mattered anyway, because he was one of Serenity's only true friends she had ever had.

But there was something else bothering her. Even though she couldn't admit it aloud, at least she could admit it to herself. She wanted to help the older Kaiba brother and find the keys and answers to his secrets.

First impressions never changed. With her brother's words, she had come to dislike Kaiba, his attitude, his ambition, everything about him. She had almost come to dislike his little brother, too. But after knowing Mokuba a little better, she had come to see Kaiba as just another person, as different as he was. Mokuba adored his brother so much, her heart could not help but to melt a little. After interacting with him, though, she had realized he was more than another person: he was another lonely person. Just like Mokuba and herself. He had hidden it so well in the previous years that everyone but the one person who knew him the best misunderstood all of it. As good as it was, though, he had done it all wrong. He had hidden himself in lies and half-truths and hatred and anger instead of learning how to be happy once more. Pride and everything that was the opposite of being the lowest on the ladder of despise had become his weapon. Serenity and Mokuba had gone through it so that they were almost unscathed because they had learned to love once more, but he hadn't. He was still lost somewhere, hiding farther and farther in those chains of unhappiness and dislike. He was gone so far that even Mokuba could do no more than make him love his little brother and find a reason for living. He had seen the good in his older brother and tried to bring him out. Even though that had never happened, he still looked up to him and found a reason to believe.

Now Serenity could see why, even though it was still so foggy and unclear, hidden in all of the uncertainty. He wasn't the cold man everyone thought he was. There was still a part of him that made him just like everyone else. Serenity so badly wanted to bring that side out and see who he really was, and to make her best friend happy. Seeing him sad for so many years, all of it hidden behind the mask, hurt her badly. And with all of his strength he had given so freely to hold her up and keep her strong, she needed to help him in return.

She couldn't ruin this chance. Not even with the smallest mistake. This was her one chance to set Kaiba free and bring happiness into the small family of her best friend. This was her one chance to find understanding for all of them.

Intrigue and want for a challenge got the best of her. After a few more doubts, she pushed it all away and set her mind to having fun with her brother. She could do nothing else now. After all, why waste a chance to have some fun while it lasted? What happened in the next few weeks could change her whole life more than anything. She tucked away the gloomy thoughts into a safe corner in her mind and walked out the door to find her brother.

* * *

So, this is it. Hope you liked it. I know it's kinda wacked, but that's because I was kept away from this for huge periods at a time in the middle. I think I might have forgotten bits of what I had written before, too…

Review, please!


	8. Chapter VIII

So, I finally decided to try and update a little more often than once a month. I finally got my brain to make the ideas flow a little faster…and I had more free time, too. Though I spent most of that on another site (check my profile page if you wanna know what it is).

Thanks to all of my reviewers!

**lilxangelxsweetz**: I did! And of course I wouldn't have them find Mokuba yet…it would make the story too short. And too simple.

**Dragon's Lair**: Well, sorta. She's thinking of him as someone who could use another friend. She's not that mean! Not in my fic, anyway. Haha, you sent me two reviews…one was signed and one wasn't.

**shanichan11**: There will be, don't worry. It would be pretty uninteresting if it didn't have any SxS in it. In fact, there's some in this chapter…

**ChibiTrinity**: Of course it isn't the end! If it was, that would be one major cliffhanger…and as I said to lilxangelxsweetz, it would make the story too short and too simple.

Sorry if there's typos. I don't have time to proofread this before I go on a short trip...Yep, I'm going to Almador Lake tomorrow until Tuesday. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you enjoyed the other ones!

* * *

Serenity sighed quietly to herself. School was finally over for the day. It had been a long Monday, with her thoughts occupied with Mokuba and his older brother. She hadn't been sure that she would see the older Kaiba brother today after the argument that had happened the day before, so most of those thoughts had been full of worries and pessimistic. Well, if he wasn't going to let her go to KaibaCorp, then she would just have to walk home herself. At least her brother would be happy that she wasn't staying around Kaiba anymore. 

Backpack on her back and her DI script in her hands, she walked with her head down to the parking lot. She had finally found a piece she liked, and was pretty far behind on memorizing it. Her concentration was so deep into the piece that she didn't even notice when she made it into the parking lot instead of walking the other way for home.

Stopping at her usual spot where she waited for Kaiba, she sat down on the curb with the script still in her hands. A car backed out of a parking spot, but she only heard the sound distantly and didn't pay attention. Even when the car drove towards her, she didn't notice. It wasn't until the car stopped almost before her and something blocked the sunlight that she finally looked up and realized she wasn't alone.

She squinted as she looked up. The sun was right behind the person, so it was hard to see who it was. All she saw was a tall figure…and glints from blue eyes. "Kaiba?" she asked, surprised. "I thought you wouldn't be here today." Her eyes widened and she put a hand over her mouth, though it didn't help. The words had already slipped out.

Despite the unintended hidden meaning of the words, he spoke with his regular tone of voice. His facial expression didn't change. "What do you mean? I never told you that."

Serenity's face turned a bright red. "No—no—no one did…" she stuttered. "I just thought that...that…"

"You really took what I said to heart, didn't you?" A slight smirk crossed his face. She didn't answer. When Kaiba saw how seriously she took it, though, he wiped the smirk off of his face. "Look, I was just angry, alright? I needed something to vent my anger on. Or somebody. You were just there, so I found it easiest to let out my anger on you."

She looked down at the paper in her hands, but again, she did not answer. Kaiba stared down at her a little longer, then abruptly sat down beside her on the curb, his long legs stretched out before him. Unconsciously, he began to toy with the keys in his hand. "I'll put this a different way, then. Why are you still here, if you thought I wasn't going to be here? If you thought that I didn't want your help in looking for Mokuba?"

A moment of silence followed. Kaiba didn't think that she would ever answer his questions or even talk to him again because it was so quiet, but she finally answered. "I don't know why I came out here. It's a habit, I guess. I was going to head for home, but I was so into my DI piece that…I guess I didn't know where I was going." She opened her mouth to add more, but she couldn't. She wanted to add what she had thought about the previous weekend, but it was too uncomfortable for her.

"Nothing else?"

"No…why do you ask?"

"Just wondering." He stared across the parking lot before his car. "What about my other question? Why are you still here if you thought I really didn't want your help with Mokuba?" He looked back at her.

She thought about this before she answered. She could have easily said that she was out here for the other reason she had already told him, but she could tell he already knew there was another reason. He probably knew that she was hiding something about the other answer, too. Knowing it was hopeless to hide it, she answered, "Well…I thought I would still have a chance to help. Maybe even the smallest chance." For the first time, she finally looked at him. A small smile turned up the corners of her mouth. "I guess luck helped me this time."

The smile startled Kaiba. How was a thought like that able to bring her spirits up and not something she wanted to hear? Didn't she want to know that he would like her to help?

He shook the thoughts mentally out of his mind. "Then I guess that's it." He got up and stuck his right hand in his pocket, twirling his keys once with his left hand and then catching them. "Are you going to come with me to KaibaCorp today? Or are you going to head home?"

"I think I want to go to KaibaCorp…" she said as she hastily put her papers away and got up. By the time she was finished, Kaiba was already in the car. She quickly opened the door, got in, and put her backpack on the rear seat, then buckled on the seatbelt.

* * *

They walked immediately to Kaiba's office as soon as they arrived, not bothering to go down to the room like they had always done to make sure nothing was amiss and to check for any other extra information. Serenity found this a little odd. Wouldn't Kaiba want to find out if there was any new information that would help him reach the goal of his search a little faster? 

He must have known what she was going to ask, because he didn't wait for her to ask before he said, "Over the weekend, I connected those computers with mine so I won't have to go down there every day to check the progress. Everything I need to figure out I can find there. We already know where he is, or was, anyway, so we have no trouble keeping track of where he is." Serenity obviously looked a bit surprised to hear the answers to her questions, because a smirk crossed Kaiba's face again. She didn't comment, and neither did he, so the walk to the office was quiet the rest of the way.

While Kaiba took out the keys to his office door and put them in their corresponding locks, she took the liberty to take a look around her. Nothing seemed different, but she had a nagging feeling that there was something that needed attention. It made her feel suspicious, almost as if a security camera was watching her.

"Are you done looking around?" Kaiba's voice said impatiently. "We've got work to do." He paused. "What are you looking for, anyway? You've seen this place at least fifty times already."

"Nothing…" Her face had a small tint of pink in it, but her eyes easily betrayed the fact that there was something troubling her. Even with Kaiba standing by her and making her nervous, she couldn't help but look over her shoulder again. Her eyes landed on the security camera.

"That's a security camera, Wheeler," he said mockingly. "Are you scared of it? It's been there ever since I can remember. It's nothing new." She turned even redder at his remark. He sighed in exasperation. "What's bothering you so much that you can't stand the sight of a camera?"

"Well…I thought…I…Never mind," she said. Kaiba was still holding the door open, so she slipped into the room.

He frowned, then followed her in, shutting the door behind him. He simply stood in front of the door, arms crossed, and watched her put her stuff down. She was too stiff and seemed too conscious of everything around her, as if she expected something to jump out at her in any minute. Maybe it was because he was looking at her she was acting like that, but he highly disbelieved that. It was something else.

Thinking to test this, he walked silently behind her and tapped her shoulder. Her reaction was exactly what he thought it would be—she jumped in surprise and gasped, twirling around so quickly she almost tripped over her things on the floor. Something akin to fear was in her eyes. "Don't scare me like that!" she exclaimed when she realized who it was. "I thought you were…that you were…"

He cut her off. He didn't need her to explain. What she was going to say would be a "never mind". "What's bothering you? It's not something small, or else you wouldn't be jumping around like this at the smallest thing. You're acting like an animal caught in a trap with guns pointed at you."

She turned pale when he said the simile. It was a few seconds before he realized what he said was too close to what had happened on the weekend for her to comfortable with. "Look, just forget about that comparison, alright? What's bothering you? Last weekend?"

A tear glinted at the edge of her eye. "No…it's not that…" she whispered. Her eyes began to fill with tears.

Kaiba was about to snap at her to stop crying and just tell him; crying wasn't going to help anybody and if she never told anyone she would have to deal with whatever it was all by herself and not have someone to help her sort it all out. If she wanted it that way, fine, but don't go asking me for help when you need it, because you never took it in the first place. But he couldn't find it in himself to say that. After being target practice for two guns and being blamed for all of the troubles of another man's life, she had the right to let it out of her. And to think she was still here after all of that.

Wordlessly, he guided her to a chair in front of the desk, usually reserved for business partners, clients, and other people who thought they were helping him in business when they were just wasting his time. He then sat down in his office chair and swiveled it to face her.

Kaiba let Serenity cry for a moment, her head bowed down to hide the tears, auburn hair falling down on shaking shoulders. When he thought she had gotten enough of it out of her system to talk again, he asked, "What's bothering you, Serenity? You can tell me if you want to."

She wiped her eyes with a sleeve, then looked up. A bit of confusion showed_. She's surprised I used her first name_, he thought, amused.

Serenity took a breath to steady herself. "When we were outside, I thought…" She stopped. _What if he thinks I'm foolish for my thoughts outside? I really don't need to bother him with it. It was only a feeling._ "Well, I thought…" Tears started coming to her eyes again.

"When you were outside my office door, was it what happened last week that bothered you, or was it something else?"

"Something else, I—I guess…" She kept her gaze on her hands.

"What do you mean?"

She hesitated for a second. "When I was outside, I wasn't really thinking about…last weekend." She paused to wipe her eyes. It was hard to even think about it.

"And?"

"And…um…" She didn't want to say it in fear of sounding foolish.

"Just tell me. What was it?" She didn't answer; instead, her face turned red. "You don't have to be so embarrassed about it."

He sighed. "Look, Serenity, I'm just trying to help you. Do you want it, or not? If you don't, then we can just go back to doing our work and forget about it. Would you rather talk about it, or just forget about it?"

She mumbled something, but he couldn't hear. "What?" She said something, but her volume had barely changed. "What? I can't hear you."

"I said, I—I felt like something was out there that…that didn't feel like it was supposed to be there." Her face started to turn even redder than it did before.

Kaiba simply watched her for a few seconds. That was it? "What was so hard about saying that?" She didn't answer. "You don't need to think that people will think you're foolish just because you think something. Somebody will listen. You shouldn't be afraid to tell people what you think." He turned on his computer. "Alright, let's see if there was anything out there."

Serenity sat there and watched as he clicked a few things and typed a few words. She wasn't going to move from her seat until Kaiba said, "Come here. I want you to watch and see if there's anything I miss."

She got out of her chair and walked over to a spot beside Kaiba's chair. She would rather stand behind it, but the chair was almost too tall for her to see over it. What she saw was what she immediately recognized as what the security camera saw.

"I'll put it from yesterday, since I checked it the day before. I haven't had time to see if anything's amiss since then," he explained.

"But don't you have other people who check it?" Serenity's courage had risen up again, but her voice still had a small presence of tears to it.

"They sit there and dose off," he said. "Plus, there are so many people that work here, that if they saw someone putting something by my office, they'd just think it was the mailman. You can't expect anything better out of them. Which is why I always end up doing the work myself."

She nodded in reply. "Is—is there any other computer I can watch this from? I don't want to bother you while you're working…"

"You want to do this yourself? Alright then. You can go use the spare computer in the room a couple doors down." He pushed himself out of his chair and walked towards the door. "Are you coming or not? You're not going to know the passwords or how to get to the file…"

* * *

Serenity had been staring at the screen for almost an hour. Before he had left, Kaiba had given her a few tips to make it easier, and she had tried using every one of them. If there's no movement, fast-forward it at double the speed. If there is, make sure to watch it over twice, if not more, to make sure that's not what you're looking for. If it turns black, then fast-forward it quadruple the speed. She was starting to think that what she had felt out there was just a false alarm. 

Just as she was about to turn off the computer and apologize to Kaiba for wasting his time, she spotted something. It was a light movement, nothing more. She froze, staring at the corner of the screen, where it projected the window by the office door. Once again, she saw it. It stopped again, then resumed.

After a few more seconds, she saw the movement came from outside. It looked like something was hanging off of a small hook before it. It just dangled there for a few seconds. Then, as she watched, the window opened.

She had no idea how it had happened, and Kaiba's words came back to her. She rewound it until she couldn't see any movement, then played it again. Once again, she saw something dangling before the window, and then the window being opened. Knowing that she would never see it at regular speed, she rewound it, then slowed it down to half speed. She still saw the same thing.

"Find anything yet?" a voice said from the doorway. Serenity turned around quickly, and saw it was only Kaiba. She breathed a small sigh of relief.

"I think…" she said, turning back to the screen. "But I can't really tell what's happening."

"Play the part for me, then."

She did exactly as he asked. Keeping it at half speed, she rewound it yet another time. Both of them watched like hawks, with Kaiba looking over Serenity's head. "I can't figure out this part," Serenity said as the window opened.

He didn't answer. He continued to watch as the small object was thrown into the room. It landed in a small pot that was holding a tall plant. Then the window was closed, just as mysteriously as it opened, and the hook disappeared.

Kaiba reached across and replayed it. When he finished replaying the same scene twice, he seemed satisfied, but his expression was cold. Still silent, he strode toward the door and went out into the hallway. Serenity hesitated for a second, then minimized the window and hurried after Kaiba.

She found him sticking a hand into the plant that they had seen in the clip. He was kneeling on one knee, looking at the ground in concentration. A few leaves fell to the floor, but he didn't seem to notice. His hand dug a little bit more, then he suddenly stood up and dusted himself off, a small object clenched in his hands. "What is it?" Serenity asked him.

He opened his hand and put it between them. They bent over it, puzzling over the mysteriousness of an object simply coming into the building. "It's a memory chip," Kaiba said, a bit of surprise showing on his face. Serenity looked up at him as the object was moved from her view into one of Kaiba's pockets in his trenchcoat.

He walked in front of her to the window. He opened it, then put his head halfway out of the window to see the edge of the window where something had opened and closed the window. He ran his finger down the length of it, then stopped halfway to mess with something. When he pulled himself back in, he had another small object in his hands. "I found this at the edge of the window. It's a small device that, when triggered by a small object, can send waves to the other side of whatever the object is on and undo the mechanics. In this case, the hook must have triggered it and the device made the window's latch pop open." Serenity didn't answer. She wasn't really sure if she understood what he was saying.

He also put the device in the same pocket that he had put the chip in, then walked into his office. "Your senses are accurate, Serenity. This may be the key to finding Mokuba and his captors."

Serenity stood slightly outside the door, her hand pointing to the room she had been in. "Do you want me to…"

Kaiba answered without looking back. "Go ahead. Come back in here when you've shut it off, though."

Serenity rushed back to the room, shut off the computer, and shut the door behind her. In less than a minute, she was back in Kaiba's office.

* * *

So, that's it. Not much to say other than I sorta made up the part with the hook and the device that opened the window…my mind wasn't functioning much, and still isn't. Other than that, like I always ask, review, please! 


	9. Chapter IX

I finally decided to update a little sooner, seeing as I had time on my hands. Actually, I just had some ideas running in my head for once. That's why this one is longer, too, than most of the other chapters…

Thanks to my reviewers!

**lilxangelxsweetz**: Thanks! Hope you like this chapter, too!

**bingbing**: You didn't read chapter 8 yet, did you? Your review says chapter 7…just make sure to read that one before your read this, or it'll make no sense…thanks for reviewing all the way from the other side of the world! You have no idea how much I appreciate that!

Labeled **ya sis**—in other words, my sister: I do? Really? I didn't think that her thinking parts made much sense…kinda sound like randomness to me…but I'm glad you think it makes sense.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this chapter or the last or any other chapter I forgot to put the disclaimer on but the chip and the window device. And the symbol...

So, here's the chapter that, hopefully, hasn't had you waiting forever…

* * *

Serenity came back into the room to see Kaiba putting the chip into his computer. She closed the door behind her, then stood uncertainly as Kaiba started to type something on the keyboard, not sure if he wanted her to see what was on it or not. Fidgeting with the door handle behind her, she hoped Kaiba would at least tell her to do something other than stand there. Standing in one spot, unnoticed, always made her feel just as nervous as being told to stand in one spot, noticed. Especially in front of an intimidating man like Kaiba. 

"Come here, Serenity," he said, not looking away from his computer. Obediently, she walked over to where he was sitting. "I need your help again. This memory chip has some crucial information on it. If any of us miss anything, the other will probably find it." He looked behind him where she was standing beside his chair. "Can I rely on you to do that?"

She nodded. He scrutinized her for a few seconds, as if trying to find the worth in her standing there and being able to find anything else. She felt uncomfortable again, with the blue gaze prying into her, as if to see if she was really worth all of his time and effort. But he turned away soon enough, leaving her wondering what had just happened.

The thought soon escaped her mind though, for something more important. She watched as Kaiba clicked on an icon on the computer screen, and a window immediately popped up, filling the whole computer screen from corner to corner. Blank and black at first, nothing on it, it soon blinked and showed a man in a business suit. Both of them leaned in a little closer to watch, one slightly curious, the other dangerously finding the key in destroying the enemy.

* * *

The man was sitting behind a huge desk, reclined in his chair, his black suit jacket unbuttoned to show a crisp white shirt and a formal patterned crimson tie. Grey eyes peered sharply below slicked black hair, bits of gray streaking the hair at the temples. He looked at them through the screen like a hawk. "_So, Seto Kaiba, have you finally found the chip?_" A smirk crossed his face, belying his voice. It was pleasant-sounding, not far from sounding like a doctor attending on a patient. But there was the underlying tone that suggested he didn't really care as much as he put up, and that all of it was an act. The combination almost made him sound like Pegasus, but without the drawl and a bit more sly. "_Of course you have. How else would you be seeing this?_" The smirk turned into an almost twisted grin, genuine but a hint of mocking behind it. 

"_So we meet again. Oh, don't worry, we still have your brother. He is still safe…or as safe as he can be as a captive._" A low laugh escaped his throat._ "You have no need to worry about him. Not one hair will be harmed on his head._" The smile was gone from his face. "_But no need to talk about that. He is not the topic of our conversation_."

He leaned forward in his chair. "_I think you know what I want. You've seemed to make a point of it ever since you talked to my men last weekend. Your company, Seto Kaiba. I want KaibaCorp. You have some valuable information that I would love to have. Of course, you would never give it to me, so you only leave me with the choice of taking it from you by force. Hence, the borrowing of your little brother_. _Or how else would I persuade you to let me have it?_"

Kaiba growled at the back of his throat at the usage of words, but didn't say anything. Serenity looked at him, surprised by the noise, and saw his eyes flashing a bright blue, still fastened like a predator on the screen. She quickly looked back, remembering Kaiba's words to try and catch everything, just in case the other one missed it.

"_It isn't a hard task I'm asking of you, Seto Kaiba. Give me your company willingly, and you get your brother back. Don't worry, you will still have money to live decently and survive pretty much like you are now. It will seem the same as always, you will just have your company in reliable hands. In fact, it will seem as if nothing ever changed. There will be a bit less work on your hands, too. What a bargain. So why not hand over the company? That's all I'm asking of you, that's all I'm asking. Just hand it over, and everything will be fine._

"_Of course, this is where your brother does become important to us…If you choose not to hand your company over, we might…let's just say that we'll have to make it easier for you to give us what we want. Maybe we'll go a little farther…what do you think? I think that it's pretty fair…We get what we want, you get what you want. We don't get what we want, you don't get it, either. All of it is just simple logic."_

He leaned back in his chair again, a genuine yet mocking smile on his face once more. _"So, Seto Kaiba, what do you think? Simple, no? I'll be waiting for your call…_" Once again, the despised smirk was back on the face. Then the image of the man was gone from the screen, and it left the computer with a black window, several small numbers blinking repeatedly. Something slammed, and then it became a black screen.

* * *

Kaiba's eyes narrowed dangerously. He didn't ask Serenity if she had seen anything. She hadn't seen anything anyway… Instead, he went to the phone and punched in the number he had scribbled down—Serenity then realized that the slam had come from him shutting a drawer in which he had gotten out a pen and a small pad of paper to copy the number down—standing over the desk with his whole body rigid with anger. His teeth were gritted together, and his hands were clenching the phone and the desk so hard that his knuckles turned white. His eyes were flashing a vivid blue, like lightning. 

"_Hello?_" Serenity heard dimly.

"It's Seto Kaiba, President and CEO of KaibaCorp. Get your goddamn boss on the phone. Now." His voice was dripping with venom.

The voice on the other side said a few words. Serenity could barely even hear that someone had replied. Kaiba turned to her. "Go find another phone and listen," he hissed at her. "Make sure no one knows you're on. Hold the phone upside down if it helps." Then he turned back to face the phone, staring at the screen.

Serenity hurried back to the room she had been in. She vaguely remembered seeing a phone in there; she hoped she hadn't been mistaken. As soon as she was several yards from Kaiba's office, she ran to the room. At the door, she let herself take a few breaths as not to let the other person on the line know she was there by her quick breathing. She then walked into the room, closing the door behind her, and picked up the phone and listened. She was mildly surprised that she had missed nothing of the phone call. Not even the greeting.

* * *

"_Hello?" _

"_It's Seto Kaiba. You sent me the chip. You wanted me to call, didn't you? Or was that number just a piece of decoration?"_

"_How nice of you to answer so soon. Of course I wanted you to call. What decision did you come up with? Are you calling so soon because you are so eager to give up the company for your little brother?"_

"_Shut up, moron. You should know I don't give up my possessions so easily. If I did, wouldn't I have already given your boys the company by now? But of course you're not smart enough to observe that, so I have to give it to you word for word."_

Static.

"_Sometimes, it takes the right words to wound the heart. I was under the impression that maybe a few words from a skilled businessman could make you think over your previous decision."_

"_Give that philosophy crap to someone else. I know all I need to know about it already."_

"_Seto Kaiba, you are a fool to think such things. No one can know all that they need to know, no matter that they've learned from age one to age ninety-nine. Or longer."_

"_I said cut it out with the philosophy already. I don't need to hear it."_

"_What does a young, arrogant, power-abusive boy know about such things? What you are taking as 'crap' is the basis to living life as a human. Without it, we would just be a bunch of uncivilized animals running the earth."_

"_I know plenty. I may be arrogant, but I know my bounds. I don't abuse my power, like you do. Or why else would you be thinking you could force another man to give up his thriving company?"_

"_You're nothing but a boy. Maybe that's why you would rather have a company than keep a younger brother? It might be too much for you to handle. After all, intellectual minds like us rarely know how to care for young children. We are destined to make the world a better technological place, not to baby sit little kids."_

"_Non-intellectual minds like you, you mean. I've taken care of him all my life. I don't need lessons on caring about someone from you. I can handle doing both at once. Isn't that what I've been doing every since I was a young child? And on top of that, I've been able to become a successful businessman. Shocking, isn't it? Don't think you're doing me a favor…you aren't."_

"_I never said I was, did I? Assumptions always lead to the downfall of a man."_

"_Can it with all of the philosophical shit already! I'm not calling you to have a friendly conversation about philosophy and logic. Or were you planning to share some theories, too?"_

"_No, not quite."_

"_Then get to the point already. Why the hell did you want me to call?"_

"_As I said before, I wanted to know your decision, Mr.Kaiba."_

"_And as_ I_ said before, I'm not giving up anything. Must I spell it out word for word again? When I say I don't give up my possessions easily, I mean exactly what I say." _

"_I'm afraid I wasn't very clear. Let me try it again. I wanted you to call to share your decision with me. In other words, whether you wanted your brother safe or your company."_

"_What do you mean if I want my brother safe? What did you do to him, you bastard? If you even so much as put a cut on him, you're not going to live to see the end of the month. You'll be lucky even to see Christmas—"_

"_Mr. Kaiba, be reasonable here. All I want is KaibaCorp. Is it really worth it to hurt a kid on such important business matters?"_

"_It doesn't matter if it's worth it or not. You'll do whatever it takes to get my company. You're no different from all of those other fools who tried to take it. You've kidnapped my brother; now you'll do whatever it takes to get my company. And the fact that you'll fail won't be different, either."_

"_No need to be so fancy, Seto Kaiba. The only thing you need to say is that you value your company over your brother. How sad."_

"_What makes you assume such stupidity? If you think what I just said was fancy, you're even less intelligent than I thought. My point was that I'll keep both."_

"_Sorry, but that isn't one of the options you have. You keep one, or you keep the other."_

"_If it's only by your words that it isn't one of my options, then forget it. Your word counts as nothing."_

"_Even if it is only by my words, I won't give you a choice. Will you be a caring older brother, or will you let him stay here with us, orphaned twice, for the sake of money and fame?"_

Silence. Voices in the background.

"_Hmm…let me think. Keeping my company means no little brother to take care of, but keeping my brother means less profit, or none if no one will give me a job, which I highly doubt if I needed to find another one. Now, which is more important? Easy enough to say my brother. You're more stupid than a dog if you think that. But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up so easily to have him back. A businessman like you should know that anyone who gives up that easily would never make it far in the business world. Maybe that is why you want my company? Because yours is crumbling and you need something to support it?"_

"_Of course not. I simply—"_

"_Let me tell you something. I've had enough of you. I don't care why you want my company; I don't care what you need it for. Name any price or say any reason and it will never be good enough. I worked hard to make it into something like this, and I'm not going to throw it away just because someone tells me to. If anyone wants it, they can fight for it. Of course, they'll never get it."_

"_Mr. Kaiba—"_

"_Didn't anyone tell you that it's bad manners to interrupt someone? I'm not done yet."_

"_Who cares about—"_

"_Let me tell you one more thing, and you'd better be listening. My brother is worth everything to me. Even more than my money, my fame, my company, and any of my other possessions combined. Everything in life goes after him. Nothing is worth risking his life for. If anything was, that would be millions of possibilities for him to be injured or killed._

"_But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up anything. I don't live my life by doing what others tell me and giving up so easily. I've fought for everything I have, and I still do. Nothing changes. So giving up my company isn't a possibility. It's the second hardest thing I have ever fought for, my brother's life being the first. I'll find a way to keep both. I fight to the end, not when I see a glimmer of hope or a small chance at victory. So don't think you're going to get what you want. And don't think you're going to get away with this so easily, either. And when I succeed, you'll wish you never even thought of my company or my brother in the first place."_

"_Seto Kaiba—" _Click.

* * *

Serenity shakily put the phone back in its cradle, shocked by everything she had heard. Everything was moving too fast today, too fast for her to keep up. It was overwhelming her like a huge wave at sea. Barely anything was registering in her head anymore. She put her head in her hands and closed her eyes. 

"I suppose you know all of it now," a cold but tired voice said. She looked up quickly at the voice and saw that it was Kaiba, leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed. "Anything you think I should pay extra attention to?"

"Um…well, I think there might be something…" She wasn't very sure of everything she had heard, and didn't feel very obliged to voice it all out. Especially to a Kaiba who had been shouting at a man just a minute before.

"Just tell me this time. I don't want to suffer your tears and embarrassment again to get it out of you."

She gave in, too tired to let her embarrassment stop her. "Well…when you first said something about not giving up your company so easily…I thought I heard a sound. There was static overlaying it, but I heard something. It wasn't the man you were talking to, I know that, because…well, it sounded like a voice or something. But he talked through that…sound…so I suppose it wasn't him."

"I heard it too. But it could be a TV, or a radio. I'll puzzle through it later. What else?"

"I heard it a few more times…um…nothing other than that, I guess." She looked down at her fiddling fingers.

Kaiba stayed silent for a moment, looking at the phone as if there were more answers there, then abruptly turned away. "It's five now. I need you to do something quick for me, if you'll stay a little longer. I have an errand to run, now that I have this information."

Serenity looked up tiredly, and emitted a small sigh. There was more? She opened up her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Kaiba. "Look, if you're too tired to work anymore, then go home. You don't have to stay if you don't want to."

"Uh—um—no, I…I didn't mean that…" She fought for the right words. "I—I'm just a little tired, that's all. If there's anything I can help with…I'll do my best to help."

"A tired person won't be able to do the work right. Just go home." He started to walk towards the door.

"Wait!"

Kaiba stopped at the door. "What?" He sounded mildly impatient and annoyed.

Serenity hesitated for a second. What made her say that? "I..I…never mind," she said quietly.

"What is it now?" He turned back to face the room, running a hand through his hair. "Spill it out or leave. It's been a long day, and I'm not in the mood to wait."

"Well…you were so kind to me today…I just don't want to act ungrateful, that's all." She looked down once again, feeling foolish.

"Acting ungrateful? Hardly. So is that your offer to help me, or am I taking it wrong?"

"I want to help."

"Okay then." He walked over to the desk she was sitting at, dug through the pocket inside his trench coat, and put two small objects before her. They were the chip and the small device that had opened the window. "I want you to examine these for any names, labels, whatever. We have some information, but we don't know who has Mokuba captive or where. Most likely, they made these themselves, or else my company would be useless to them. So anything on it—any print or logos—may give us some clues. Search them carefully and thoroughly."

She looked at them for a moment, wondering if her eyes would hold the strain, then pushed the thoughts away for a more important one. "You said you were going on an errand…How long will it take for you to get back? So I can tell you if I find anything?"

"I won't be back for awhile. Get some paper and a pen and write down or draw anything you find. When you're done, leave it with the devices in the second drawer of this desk on top of the things that are in there and lock the room. I'll come in here later to pick them up and examine them more closely. You can leave after you're done." His blue gaze looked down at the small objects for a second, then back at her. "I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he turned for the door, trench coat swirling, and left the room to do his errand.

Serenity watched as he closed the door behind him, then moved her eyes down to focus on the devices lying on the desk before her when the door stood closed. Picking up the memory chip carefully, she turned it between her fingers. There was small font on it, but it was engraved and hard to read. Sighing, she took out pen and paper, then turned on the desk lamp for better light.

With more light, she saw that there was a symbol on top of the print. She squinted at it and moved it a bit so the light would catch it better. It appeared as two sticks at first, but as she studied it a bit more, she saw that the logo consisted of…two swords crossed above the hilt. She puzzled over it. Crossed swords? What company or corporation would use something like that as a logo? But she didn't contemplate on it for too long. It would be Kaiba's job to figure out who it was and what it meant, not hers. She took up the pen and sketched out the symbol and a few words, then making sure that it was exact except for its size being a bit bigger, put the pen down and took the memory chip back into her hands for more examination.

Peering at the print under it, she saw that there was nothing relevant. There were small numbers telling the maximum amount of memory it would store, but nothing else. She turned it over carefully several more times to make sure she didn't miss anything, then put it down and wrote a few words down. She drew a line to separate her notes on the memory chip and the small device that had opened the window—she still had no idea what it was called—and she put the pen down once again.

She was more nervous at examining the small device. She wasn't sure how it worked, and wasn't sure what it would do if she accidentally pressed anything. When Kaiba handled it, nothing had happened, but there was still always the small chance that something dangerous could happen… But what was the logic in that? Her fears still in her head, even as she tried to calm herself down, she kept it on the table and examined the side closest to her. She was looking at the wrong side, though; nothing was on there but little scraps of a glue-like substance that had kept it on the side of the window. Gingerly, she flipped it over. There was a small button in the back, small enough that only a pen—or a hook, as in this case—could trigger it. There was also the same logo of the crossed swords on it, too. A few alien-looking …things…were on it, no doubt to make the mechanism work. There were a few warnings about using it, but nothing else.

Knowing that she would have to hold it and turn it under the light to tell if there were any details she missed, she sighed. But she picked it up anyway and held it closer to the light. Nothing. Every side, even the thin sides to the flat, elongated, cube-like object, were plain except for the glue and the logo, the warning print, and the unfamiliar details on it. There was not even a scratch marring the surface of it.

She put it back on the desk, picking up the pen once more. She scribbled down a few notes, then stared at the two objects lying on her desk. Why did these objects have to end up in and on the walls of KaibaCorp? From her point of view, they just made things more complicated. But in Kaiba's point of view, this was probably one of the keys things to finding his brother again. Sighing yet again, she scribbled down a few last notes and recapped her pen. Folding the paper like an envelope, she wrote down "Notes on chip and device" on the outside and put the two objects inside it. She opened the second drawer and put it near the front of the drawer. She thought it was the wrong place to put it at first, finding nothing inside the drawers, but put it in there anyway. Kaiba's memory might have slipped again; it wasn't impossible. He was human, and he had been too busy to remember every small detail about every room in his corporation's building.

Serenity closed it and looked around the room once. Seeing nothing amiss, she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her, making sure it was locked. She picked up her things from the small waiting room by Kaiba's office, then walked to the elevator and waited for her trip down to the street and back home for the night.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I have no idea when the next one will be up…school will be here soon, and before that, I have marching band camp…but I'll try and update as soon as possible! That still might not be for another month... Review, please! 


	10. Chapter X

Another chapter before school starts…originally, I was at a loss at how to write this chapter. But with a bit of help from my sister, I got an idea, and it really grew into something…this is my longest chapter yet. And just to think that I had no idea what content exactly I would put in this chapter…

Thanks to my reviewers!

**lilxangelxsweetz**: Yep, definitely…Or is it? I'm can't tell anyone that yet…

**bingbing**: Thanks for the two reviews! You know, you could of just read both chapters and then reviewed on the last…but anyway. Haha, I love reading your reviews! The comments strike me as funny, i.e. the memory chip being the bomb. No, you're not crazy for any of your thoughts. You know how you said some parts were a bit long? Well, I wanted it to be tedious because, well, I always think Kaiba's that way and I wanted it to seem like he met his match out there. Maybe I did it wrong…Oh yeah, and here's the update you're bothering me about.

So, other than the fact that I don't own Yugioh or the characters, enjoy the story! Well, I do own the tissues and the garbage bin and the note and the pajamas…technically….well, you get the point.

* * *

Serenity let her head drop onto her arms, sprawled across her desk at home. She closed her eyes. _Why do I have to suffer a cold now?_ she thought. _Why now, when I have so much homework to do and so much to learn at school? By the time I get back, I'll be way behind everyone else. It'll take me forever to catch up!_

Sniffing, she let a hand wander to find the tissue box sitting conveniently to one side of the desk. She reached inside, only to find it empty, and sighed. Why was the only box of tissues left at home filled one fourth of the way with tissues? She pushed herself out of her chair, still not looking up, stumbling on one of the legs, and dropped the empty box into the small trash bin in her room on the way out to get more. It seemed a long way to the closet and the small travel packs that were behind that door. When Joey came home, the first thing she would do would be to ask him to buy some more boxes of the precious paper cloths.

Just as she plopped back into her chair to get more of her report done, the phone rang. This time, she groaned. A day at home was supposed to be more peaceful than this. Walking to the living room, she picked up the phone and plopped onto the couch. "Hello?" she asked tiredly.

"_What are you doing at home? It's a Tuesday. There was school today." _

She closed her eyes and repressed the sigh coming up her throat. That sarcastic, arrogant, and…irritating voice could belong to none other than Kaiba. She really didn't feel like dealing with him for right now. "Because I don't feel well. I caught the cold yesterday."

_"Is it really that bad? I'm sure you could still go to school and do a bit of work. Or is what Mokuba told me about your dedication to school a lie?"_

"It isn't! But—but—but I just don't feel comfortable going to school like this…"

A sigh came from over the line. _"Anyway, so I suppose you're not going to do any work today?"_

"At your office? Probably not…"

A low muttering was heard over the phone. "_So I…all this…to…"_ She could guess easily that he was saying something about wasting his time going there. "_What about tomorrow? Are you going to stay at home again?"_

"No…staying at home for one day is fine, but staying for more will make me fall behind too much."

"Okay then. I'll meet you at the same place in the parking lot tomorrow." There was a pause. "And I hope you feel better soon."

Serenity was hesitant for a second, not sure what to say to those words from a man like him. "Th—Thank you. See you tomorrow."

There was no reply. She put the phone back down and rubbed her eyes. She was so tired…taking a nap right now couldn't hurt. After all, she had finished her homework and done the school assignments that she had called a friend for except for the huge project that had another week yet. She was farther ahead in the project than anyone else in her class, anyway…

She walked into her room once more, but didn't bother to stop at her desk. She went to the other side of her room instead, where her bed was waiting, comfortable and warm. Not even bothering to lift up the covers and slip under them, she simply fell on top of it all. She closed her eyes and fell asleep in an instant.

* * *

An hour later, Serenity woke up to the sound of something clanging. She lay motionless, unsure of what it was. When she didn't hear it again, she closed her eyes again, thinking it was her imagination. But looking at the clock, she saw it was four thirty, and immediately knew what it was. The sound she had heard was the mailbox outside the front door opening and closing.

She yawned tiredly as she sat up, her right hand coming up to cover her mouth, then swung her legs over the side of her bed. Her feet took awhile trying to find her slippers, but found the warmth easily enough. She took her sweater from the closet and put it on as she shuffled to the front door. She was still so tired…

Unlocking the front door, she turned the knob and walked outside to the mailbox on the wall. She pulled open the lid and reached inside without looking. Her hand only found one envelope. She was about to check with her eyes this time for anything she had missed when she heard a voice behind her. "Hey, Serenity, what are you doing out here with just your pajamas on?"

She gasped in fright, turning behind her with the envelope clutched close to her. "Joey! I—I—I was just getting the mail…"

Puzzlement was written on his features. "Why are you still in your pajamas, though? It's past four thirty already."

She looked down at herself and finally realized the truth in his words, seeing her pink pants and fuzzy slippers. "I took a nap and…um…forgot that I was still in them?" She smiled sheepishly, hoping Joey wouldn't comment about it.

He looked at her with the same expression for awhile longer, then said, "Whatever you say. But let's go inside. It's not good to stay out in the cold while you're sick."

Serenity followed him obediently and closed the door behind her. Joey continued walking into the kitchen. "Oh, by the way," he called over his shoulder. "What's in the mail?"

She looked down at the piece of mail that had been forgotten in her hand. Serenity Wheeler was written on the front of the envelope. "Oh, it's nothing. Just something for me."

"Okay then." She could hear Joey digging through the refrigerator for a snack. Looking at the envelope again, she walked back to her room, opening it as she walked.

She plopped on her desk, about to read the letter. Suddenly, she realized that she didn't even know whom it was from. She turned the envelope around to see the front, but there was nothing but her name and address on it. There was no return address, or even a stamp. It struck her as suspicious, but barely. She didn't contemplate on it. Instead, she opened the letter and started reading.

_Dear Serenity Wheeler,_

_I will give you ten days to persuade Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corperations, to hand over his company. If you complete the job successfully, you will be awarded with a large sum of money. If you fail to do so, you put your life and the two Kaiba brothers' on the line. You will have no need to tell us what your choice is; I have eyes everywhere to do that for me. I'll make sure this task is completed, one way or the other, so do not think you can get away with foolery. And don't think of showing this to anybody else, either, because you don't want to know what will happen to you and everyone else you care about. The sooner you do this, the better. I'll be waiting._

There was no name of the sender anywhere on the letter, either, but she didn't need a name to know who it was. She turned pale and let the letter fall to her desk.

"Hey, Serenity, you okay in there?"

She immediately jumped out of her seat and backed into the wall opposite the door. Her eyes were wide and terrified.

"Serenity? Are you in there? Can I come in?"

It took another few moments for her to recognize the voice as her brother's. Letting out a shaky breath that she hadn't even noticed that she had been holding, she ran across the room and threw open the door. "S—So—Sorry—" she stuttered, still trying to calm herself down.

Joey simply looked at her for a moment, then walked into her room. "What's wrong with you, Serenity? You seem way out of it…" He looked back at her. "And why are you so pale?"

"Nothing…" she said as she closed the door, her eyes on the floor.

"I don't believe you."

She stayed silent. Knowing that he wouldn't get an answer, he walked over to her desk and picked up the letter, curious as to what was on it. "Who's it from?" he asked as he opened it.

"No!" Serenity cried. She ran towards her brother and snatched the letter out of his hand. Joey was so surprised that he didn't even try to take it back. "It's just from…a…a friend…"

"Then why can't I read it? Come on, let me see…"

"Because…! Because there's stuff in it that I don't want you to see!"

"Sure, sis, sure. Come on, hand it over…" He tried to snatch it out of her hand, but Serenity pulled her hand back just enough that he missed it by an inch. He tried again, and got it the second time.

His sister immediately lunged for it, jumping into the air. "Give it back, Joey!" He held it up in the air, above her reach.

"Not until you let me read it." He waved it above her head and pulled his hand back as she jumped for it again and again. "After I'm done, you can have it back, I promise." He then resumed to turn his back to her and read it against one corner of her bedroom.

Serenity watched with a wide eyed gaze, knowing that things would turn bad after he finished that short letter. She was right. At first, he simply stared at it, then his eyes moved once more as he read it again. For one more second, the room was quiet, then Joey exploded, "What? This is from a friend? It's a threat letter!"

Tears welled up behind his sister's eyes. "I know…" she said quietly. "I…just didn't want you to read the letter…I thought that…that…" She gave up explaining. Instead, she fell onto her bed in a sitting position and let her head drop down to face the floor.

Joey quietly walked over to sit beside her, his goofy mood disappearing. He put his arm around her. "Who is it really from?" he asked gently.

"I—I—I don't know…"

"It does with Kaiba, doesn't it? And Mokuba?" She nodded, not trusting herself to talk.

They sat there for a while in silence, one trying to put herself back together, the other trying to comfort her and figure out how to fix the problem that the letter had caused.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Joey asked softly. "I want to ask Kaiba what he's up to, involving you in something like this."

Serenity looked up at her brother, the tears stopped but still on her cheeks. "Okay…But there's one thing." She rubbed at the water left on her skin.

"What is it?" he said, getting up and pulling her with him.

"Just promise that you won't be mean to him, Joey. I was the one who wanted to help; he didn't make me. So don't blame it all on him, okay?"

"Fine then," he muttered, back to his old temper. "Just let me bother him a little bit, though. He deserves it."

"Well…"

"I promise I won't do anything terrible."

"Okay."

* * *

"Wheeler, I thought you said you weren't coming because you felt sick." Kaiba addressed her without looking away from his computer screen. His hands continued to tap the keys of the keyboard.

"Well…" Serenity looked at Joey helplessly, who was standing by her side. "I got something that I thought you would want to see…"

The words got his attention. He looked up sharply and sent his piercing blue gaze at her, sweeping over her brother. They came back just for an instant to glance at him. "So you brought your brother here too. Great." He turned his gaze back to her. "What is it you wanted to show me? It better be good. I don't have time to waste sitting here and spending my time looking at some petty thing."

She took the letter out of a small bag hanging off her shoulder, the heat rising to her face. She should have waited until tomorrow to do this. She should have known he would be annoyed with her for coming after saying she wasn't going to. He probably thought she was a waste of time, now. He didn't even address her by her first name anymore.

"Here," she said, walking up to him and handing him the letter. She kept her eyes on the ground.

"What? A piece of mail? What does paper addressed to you have anything to do with me?"

Joey stepped up and put himself between his sister and the CEO. "Why don't you read it, huh? Maybe you'll understand then."

Kaiba simply put the envelope on the surface of his desk and crossed his arms, leaning against the table. "I will. Once you get yourself out of my face. And this doesn't concern you. Didn't your sister just say that she got something she wanted to show me? I don't recall her ever saying something about you."

"Kaiba…" Joey growled.

Serenity quickly interrupted. "Joey, it's okay. He just doesn't understand, that's all." Turning to Kaiba, she found it a bit harder to say the right thing. "The message written inside is…is…" She looked down again, not quite able to say what was inside for the fear of crying again.

He scrutinized her for a moment, wondering if she was hiding something that even the mail wouldn't reveal. But instead of saying anything, he picked up the envelope and took out the paper inside, unfolding it and reading the message that had been read many times by at least three pairs of eyes already—the Wheelers, the sender, and whoever else had taken over writing it. His eyes took in the message quickly.

When he was done, he put it back on the desk, saying nothing, as if there had been nothing unusual written in it. It was enough to set Joey off again. "So what do you think now? I still don't have anything to do with me, even when my sister's life is in danger all because of you? Let's see you think of a way to get her out of this, smart ass."

Kaiba looked mildly at him. "All because of me? Wheeler, you—"

"Joey, I told you not to do that…" Serenity mumbled beside him.

"Even your sister knows the truth. It's not my fault that she's in this mess."

"So you're just going to let her get hurt out there?" Joey exploded. "She's my sister! I'm not going to stand helpless out there and watch her—" He hesitated for a second. "I'm not just going to leave her out there all alone in harm's way! And neither should you!"

Kaiba gave him the mild look once again. "Who said I was going to? All I said was that it wasn't my fault. That in no way relates to leaving her in danger. You're too quick to make assumptions, Wheeler."

"Yeah, and you're not? Who was the one that said mail wouldn't concern you just because your name wasn't one the envelope?" Joey unconsciously crouched down slightly into a fighting stance, challenging Kaiba with his eyes.

However, he didn't care for it. Instead, Kaiba walked behind his desk and looked out the window. "I never said that. That's another assumption you made." He abruptly turned back before Joey could say anything else. "Enough talk about you and your weaknesses. I don't have time for it." His gaze, now sharp and piercing instead of mild, turned to the girl. "What made you show me the letter?"

Serenity kept her eyes on her shoes. "Well…I don't know. Joey just told me to, I guess."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He just…he just wanted to talk to you about it and know what was happening, so I came along."

Kaiba leaned against his desk again and sighed. "Wheeler, if you want me to help you, I told you already, stop being so embarrassed and just say it. No one cares how stupid a remark is if it makes any sense, or if it's the truth to a question."

Serenity looked up at him uncomprehendingly. Didn't she just answer the question he asked?

He sighed again. "Alright, I'll ask my question with a simpler idea. You saw all of the threats on the letter. You could have easily chosen to hide the letter and at least have tried to persuade me to do something about the company, even though you wouldn't succeed anyway. At least you'd have better chances of being safe. Why risk everything by telling me instead?"

"I don't know…I never really thought about that…I just did." When she saw the look on Kaiba's face, she hurried on and said, "I never really thought about the consequences…I guess I just trusted you enough," she said softly.

The two men simply stood there looking at her, one in shock and disbelief, the other with mixed emotions. Joey could barely bear the silence that hung there as he heard the words. His sister, trusting a man like Kaiba? What was she thinking? If it weren't for him, she wouldn't even be in this danger right now!

Kaiba's thoughts ran in the exact same direction, yet they ran in the total opposite direction, too. How could a girl like her actually trust a man like him? Only Mokuba had in his whole life…what exactly was it that he did so she also confided in him? She had her brother to keep trust with. Somehow, the thought made him a bit angry. Did she see him as someone just like that fool mutt not five feet away from him? But it made him feel calm, too. It made him feel as if he was in control of the situation, and made the task suddenly seem a bit easier to handle.

"I'm sorry if I said something wrong…" Serenity said hesitantly.

"Of course you did!" her brother exploded. Hurt showed on his face. "You said you trusted him! That's what's wrong about what you said!"

Kaiba had control of his temper and, amazingly, could still act calm. "No, she just said the truth. There's nothing wrong with that. Maybe you don't like it, but it doesn't mean it's wrong." He focused back on the younger Wheeler sibling. "You did the right thing to show this to me this quick. There is a small chance that they don't think you got the letter this quick, and they might not be watching you yet. Of course, the chance is just a big as the chance of a camera being in this room that is controlled by the enemy that I don't know of. I can't turn around the risk you put on yourself coming here with this letter, Serenity, but I'll try my best to keep it at a minimum." He turned away and walked behind his desk, looking out the window to sort his thoughts.

Joey took the chance to talk with his sister. "Serenity, why him?" The hurt now went into his voice, seeing that Kaiba had accepted the trust. With the use of her name, it had only made it worse.

"Joey, I trust you, too. I'll never be as close to anyone as much as I am to you. But I have to take some chances now. Please, understand?"

Her brother took a step closer and put his hands on her shoulders. He took a deep breath. "I know you have to. But promise me one thing. If anything ever happens, don't ever, ever, hesitate to come to me. Okay? I'll always be there for you."

"I promise." She hugged him tightly, letting a few tears gather in her eyes. She knew he understood it, had always understood it all. He had just been too reluctant to let it go without a fight. It had taken him this much to do so.

Kaiba stepped back beside them. "Wheeler, I have a proposal." Joey turned to glare at him, knowing it was him who was being addressed and not his sister. "Keep your insults to the minimum and act a bit more respectful, and I'll do the same for you." He didn't stop talking as Joey opened his mouth to protest. "I'm not saying for us to become friends, I'm just saying that we could try to be a little more civilized. In truth, I'm sick of having to throw insults every time I see you. We know what we both want to say, so why don't we just keep our mouths shut?"

Serenity stared at him with wide eyes, the tears forgotten and beginning to dry still in her eyes. "You'd really do that?"

"Hey, I never said I agreed here," Joey said.

She immediately turned to him. "Please, Joey? Please? You can still argue if you want, but just not about…this. Please? You can still act the same way you did before, buy just don't bring up this in the middle."

He looked down at his little sister and couldn't help but melt a bit. "Alright, Serenity. For you."

"So it's still going to be the same, but this issue won't be pulled into the arguments anymore. Do you agree, Wheeler?" The mocking was back in his voice.

"You bet!" Joey said, coming back to his old temper too. "I've never backed away from a challenge, and don't plan to do so now!"

Before either of them could say any more, Serenity stood between them and faced Kaiba, smiling at him. For what was probably the first time. "Thank you so much, Kaiba! You have no idea how much it means to me!" She then turned around and hugged her brother, making him stagger backwards a bit. "Thanks to you, too, big brother!"

The CEO stepped towards his desk, hiding a small smile. "If you're done, you can get out. I have work to do." He smoothed his face back to its usual cold look before sitting in his chair and handing the letter to Serenity. "And you'll want this too."

"Thank you," she answered, still smiling.

"Make sure you're careful out there, Serenity," he said, his tone so serious that it brought the smile off her face and Joey's attitude down to a rare seriousness. "If there's anything suspicious, tell your brother or me or some one else you trust immediately. What you got today makes everything different. Keep your senses sharp. Don't dismiss anything as coincidence. The smallest mistake can put your life at forfeit. This advice is the best I can give you right now. I hope you take it."

"I—I will," she said softly. He didn't answer. "Thank you again, Kaiba."

As Joey led her out, she heard him say, "You can call me Seto. That's what you wanted, isn't it?" She turned around at the doorway with Joey outside. "Just not in public. If it's just me and you, fine. Anything else can still put your life on the line, because it'll confirm how valuable you are in helping me keep this company and getting Mokuba back. That information in the hands of the enemy is the same as just giving up. Address me as Seto or Kaiba, it doesn't matter, but just remember to be careful."

Serenity turned back to Joey and said, "Wait here for a second." He didn't argue, so she went back inside the room to Kaiba—Seto's—desk. "Thank you again, Seto Kaiba. I'll promise to heed every word you said."

She had no idea how much of a burden she had just promised to, but he didn't say anything as she walked out the door and to an elevator with her brother. A promise like that was impossible to keep. No one could follow every word anyone ever said; it just wasn't possible. She would make a slip some day. But, in some way, it had been the best thing she could have said. She could have just heeded the advice and kept silent, but it wouldn't have been the same. Saying that had made it seem more meaningful, somehow. Truer and more valuable. It had just sealed a deep contract between them, one that he would hold close to him and work hard not to break. Her promise would be hard on her, and he had to take his share.

* * *

Ahhh…done with another chapter. I finally got to the part that did with the letter about the, "P.S. Can I call you Seto?" part…did you like it? Review, please! 


	11. Chapter XI

I finished another chapter! And faster than I've finished most of my other chapters…maybe because I keep thinking I have no time to write, so I keep on doing it and finish before I know it. And my internet time is now limited, so I guess when I get bored and use up my internet time, I type up my fanfic instead…

Well, enough of me rambling. Thanks to my reviewers!

**lilxangelxsweetz**: Yes, you make plenty of sense…this chapter has less silent shipping, but the next chapter should have more.

**bingbing**: Maybe my writing did get better over the summer…And about the word foolery, well, the word never got marked when I typed it, so…And yes, he calls her Serenity in private. This chapter will clarify that…And fool mutt is sweet? Never thought insults were supposed to be nice…And what were you thinking, them proposing so soon? Yeah, right…it'd spoil the whole thing! And I think I answered it all…

Once again, I do not own Yugioh or anything else. Except the shop, maybe…Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Sitting on the curb of the high school parking lot at the end of another school day, Serenity had her head in a thick book. She had absently put her backpack at her side, only halfway closed. Her math textbook, which didn't fit in her backpack, was on the other side of her. Her eyes were glued on the text on the pages of the novel in her hands.

"Hey, Serenity! Over here!" a voice called out.

She looked up at the voice, but it took another call to figure out that the call came from her left. Her mind was still inside the story. "Oh, hi, Tea. What are you guys doing over here?"

"We're not allowed to come here anymore?" Joey asked as Yugi and Tristan caught up.

"Of course you are! It's just not like you guys to be here right now. Don't you have to go to work?"

"Nope!" Yugi answered for them. "Grandpa said I could go have some fun today, and he also excused Joey."

"And my job isn't until six, remember?" Tea added. "Tristan…he…"

"Doesn't have a job," Joey stated.

"You don't have to tell the whole world!" Tristan grumbled.

They ignored him, except for Joey, who snickered. Tea asked, "So, Serenity, do you want to go to that donut shop with us? You know, to get a small snack and a drink or something?"

"Well, um…I don't know. Kaiba's going to be here soon…" She glanced over to the parking lot entrance just to make sure he wasn't here yet.

"So," Tristan huffed, his joblessness temporarily forgotten. "It's not like you need to keep the appointment or anything. Staying with your friends for one day won't change anything. He's a stuck up prick, anyway."

"Tristan!" Tea admonished. "You know she's just trying to help him find her best friend!"

"That doesn't change anything." He turned away from Tea and addressed Serenity. "Come on, just spend an hour with us."

"Yeah," Yugi said. "Just an hour won't hurt."

"Well…I don't think I can…"

"It's just one day," he urged.

"I know. It's just that…well, I didn't help him yesterday. So if I don't help today, either, it won't be one day; it'll be two. And he might not let me help anymore if he thinks I'm slacking off…"

"Serenity, forget about that." Her brother tried his turn in changing her mind. "Who cares about him? You can charm anybody into letting you do things, sis. You don't need to worry about that. It's just a trip to the donut shop."

Yugi interrupted them. "Well, it's too late now." He was looking over at the road. "He's already here."

They all looked and saw the exact truth in his words. Kaiba's sleek, expensive car was heading towards them at a fast but leisurely pace. He pulled up right at the curb not two feet from them.

Kaiba swung open the door and got out without a glance at them. "Well, if it isn't the geek squad," he drawled. Shutting it, he walked purposefully around the front of his car and swept his gaze over them as if they were insignificant animals in his way, arms crossed and legs planted firmly on the ground. "Serenity, you're coming along today, right?"

All eyes immediately turned to her at the use of her first name. Two bright red spots burned on her cheekbones. "Ye—yes…" she stuttered.

"Good. Let's go then." He turned on his heel and strode towards the driver's seat.

"Hey!" Joey called out. "You can't tell her what to do! We were—"

"I don't care what you were doing. And I'm not telling her what to do."

Knowing that he wasn't listening, Joey ran in front of him and blocked him with his body. "Where do you think you're going, moneybags? I'm talking to you!"

"What happened to the agreement yesterday, Wheeler? Forgot it already?"

"Okay then, _Kaiba_, where do you think you're going?"

"To my car. The last time I checked, I didn't have to ask anyone to walk over to my vehicle."

"Well, I was talking to you! When someone talks to you, you're supposed to listen to them!"

"The last time I checked, I had a right to freedom of hearing what I want to and ignoring what I don't want to, too. Did the laws change without my notice?" Sarcasm and boredom were oozing out of his voice.

"I thought a smart person like you would know what courtesy was—!"

Serenity knew that if someone didn't do something soon, there would be fists flying. Taking a breath, she stepped between them, and not looking at either of them, said, "I don't know what you two are arguing about. Kaiba, it's my decision if I want to go or not. Joey, it's also my decision as to whether I will or not. What you are both arguing about really has nothing to do with you."

What she had done was so out of her character that both stayed quiet when she stopped. Now that she had done what she intended and silence had stretched out, she wasn't so confident about her words anymore. She stepped back from between them.

It was Kaiba who broke the silence. "Well, it's your decision, like you said. What do you choose? And be quick with it, because I don't have all day." He looked at the time on his cell phone to emphasize the point.

"I…I think I'm going to go to the donut shop with my friends for awhile. I'll find my way to KaibaCorp a bit later, though," she added hastily, realizing how stupid she sounded.

"Donut shop? So that's why everyone's here? To go to a donut shop?" He looked amused.

No one answered the remark, knowing it would be pointless to do so. He sighed. "How long are you planning to take, then? If I let you walk over there, you would take forever to get there and up to my floor."

Serenity was surprised into silence a moment. He would actually let her go to the donut shop with her friends for awhile? "Umm…" She looked at Tea, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan in turn. "How long do you want to stay there for?"

"Long enough to get a snack and finish it," Tristan answered sourly.

"Around half an hour would be long enough, right guys?" Yugi said, trying to keep the peace between them. None of them answered with more than a small, reluctant nod.

Kaiba looked again at the time. "Alright. Half an hour, no shorter, no longer." However, he didn't move.

"You can go now, Kaiba," Joey said.

"I know." He still didn't move.

"Hello?" Tristan hinted. "It means for you to leave."

"Where would I go? KaibaCorp? As soon as I walked to the doors, it would be time to come all the way back over here."

"You want to come with us?" Serenity blurted out, surprised.

"No."

"Then what…" Tea started.

"I'm not the one who wants to go anywhere. If you want to go anywhere, you can go." He checked the time yet again. "As of now, you have 29 minutes. If I were you, I would hurry up and make some use of the time."

There was another silence. "Well? Are you going to that donut shop or not? If you're not, then I want to get to KaibaCorp and get some work done, Serenity."

"Al—alright then. Come on, guys, let's go."

As they walked off, Serenity looked back at Kaiba over her shoulder. He stood in the same spot for a moment longer, looking at the direction of the school, then abruptly turned around and walked back to his car. She turned back around and heard the engine starting, and saw the car drive by them towards the exit. He turned into the road and drove off into the financial section of Domino, the same way Serenity and her friends were walking.

* * *

"I can't believe you were stupid enough to yell out a number in the middle of English class, Joey," Tea was saying. "Seriously. The teacher didn't even ask a question, much less talk to you. Even if you were falling asleep, at least answer with I don't know. It makes you seem smarter if you have to say something."

"Hey, I'm usually right with the answer if I don't know the question!" Joey shot back.

Yugi looked skeptical. "Um, Joey, nice try, but that's Math…and you usually yell out the wrong number, anyway."

"And remind me why you fell asleep in the first place, Joey?" Tristan said, elbowing him.

Serenity was drinking her iced mocha when she heard her brother say, "What do you mean, fell asleep? I was just working hard, that's all! I was thinking about all of the work our teachers put on us and trying to make some sense out of it!" She choked on her drink and almost sprayed some of it out of her mouth.

She took a moment to swallow the drink, which took quite a bit of effort, then said, "Joey, what subject exactly were you thinking of then? English class requires counting?"

"Yes!" he replied defensively. "There's a such thing as page numbers, you know! And chapter numbers!"

All of them dissolved into helpless laughter. "Sure, Joey, sure…" Tea said between fits.

"Well," Yugi sighed when they all maintained self control once more. "Some things in life are just too good to pass by."

"And some people just are not great enough for that role."

"Hey, Tea, what's that supposed to mean? Who are you talking about right there?" A look of suspicion crossed his face.

"No one, Joey. No one you know that well…Right, Yugi, Tristan?"

"Of course," Yugi agreed cheerfully.

"Definitely. Why would our dear friend lie?" Tristan had a look of feigned innocence on his face that looked so fake Yugi, Tea, and Serenity sweatdropped.

"Hey! Stop siding with her!" He turned towards his sister for support. "Serenity, you're on my side, right?"

"Um…well…yeah! I guess..."

"What a great bunch of friends you are," he huffed, picking at his donut. "Leaving me all alone."

"Sorry, Joey," Tristan said sheepishly. "But you really can't disagree with what she just said."

"Yeah, sure, buddy," Joey said. "You can't disagree with her…"

Serenity zoned out of the conversation, which had now turned to homework that she didn't share. She was sipping at the last bit of iced mocha left in her cup when she saw a man in a white trench coat outside the row of windows. He opened the door and came in, not stopping to find a spot but walking directly towards them.

The others, who were still busy with their conversation, didn't notice. "Are you done with your half hour yet?" he asked coldly.

At the sound of that voice, conversation at the table immediately ceased. Fearing that his friends might say the wrong thing, Yugi hurried to be the first to reply. "Oh, yes…I think we lost track of time a bit," he said.

In reply, Kaiba simply turned away and started walking towards the doors. Serenity quickly gathered her things, knowing that he was expecting her to follow, and rushed after him. She didn't catch up to him until he was already out of the shop and making the distance between him and the building over twenty feet. "Kaiba, wait up!"

He didn't stop to wait, but he slowed down his stride a bit. Even then, she had to jog to catch up to him. And when she finally did reach his side, she had to speed walk to stay there. She didn't bother trying to tell him to slow down a bit to make walking a bit easier for her, especially with a backpack on, but he made sure that she didn't end up behind him.

She was breathing a little harder than normal by the time they reached his car, which was parked three blocks away. Gratefully, she slid into the passenger seat and dumped her backpack behind her. Closing her eyes, she let her head rest on the seat.

"Tired already?" Kaiba's voice asked dryly. "You still have an hour's work to do."

She opened her eyes and sat up, even though her body protested. "I know," she sighed. "But that doesn't change anything."

"You were sitting down for at least the last fifteen minutes," he said as he turned on the engine. "Even if you and your friends had walked from the school campus to here—which isn't that far—you can't possibly be that tired."

Even though his words were simple, something about his tone made them seem mocking. She kept to her silence, not wanting to have another smart remark thrown at her. She didn't know if he did it intentionally, but his words often stung with their tendency to make others sound so foolish.

Serenity was looking at her hands, but she could feel Kaiba's eyes turn on her when she didn't answer. She held her breath, hoping he wouldn't say anything else. Thankfully, his eyes moved off of her to the road, presumably, and she let the breath out quietly. Her eyes moved to look out of the window beside her. It was easier to look out of the windows now…

"Watch out!" she cried, seeing a man wearing completely black walking almost right in their path. How stupid could he be, wearing such dark colors out in the middle of the street and not bothering to even wait for the light? She quickly grabbed onto the seat as Kaiba turned the car sharply.

What happened next was a jumble of confusion. She heard a violent stream of cussing and cursing as she was pitched forward, losing her grip on her seat. Her hands searched frantically for something to hold on to, anything, before her head would hit anything that was in front of her. They found the dashboard and gripped it tightly, hurting her hands in the process. Screeching of wheels sounded all around her. She felt a bone-jarring impact, and heard the sound of something crashing into an object at full speed. Metal crunched. Glass shattered, and she felt it raining about her as soon as she heard the tinkling but deadly sound. Something soft and airy hit her, and she bounced off it onto the seat's cushion. There were screams, some which came from her. Another fit of cussing surrounded her.

It seemed like eternity before it was silent. She raised her head cautiously, taking her hands off of her neck where she hadn't known she had placed them. She saw a few small cuts on her arm, but there was nothing else. She saw her legs still had enough room to get out of the vehicle, though some glass still sat on her lap. Nothing else felt wrong, though her back hurt a bit from being slammed into the back of the chair. Taking a shaky breath, she turned to look at Kaiba, realizing with a shock that she was lucky; was he even alive?

The first thing she saw were vivid blue eyes looking at her, filled with concern. She let out a shaky breath, knowing from them that he was still alive, and well enough to get out and get help. In the next second, she took in the cuts on him and the bruise on his face, then the light pole that was less than a foot behind his head where it had hit the car. Her eyes widened as she saw how close it had been to smashing him to his chair. "Come on, let's get out of this junk bin," he said, his voice raspy. "Be careful opening the door; glass still might fall from the window."

Still in shock from the accident, the words didn't get to her. One thought went through her mind hazily: How could Kaiba be so calm after being so close to getting killed? It drifted and disappeared.

"Open the door," he repeated. "We need to get out." When she still didn't answer, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her lightly. "Serenity, are you okay? Answer me!" He shook her again.

She blinked, the haziness clearing out of her head, then stuttered, "Yes…I—I think…"

"Good. Now listen. Can you get your door open?"

Turning away from his grip, she looked at the door handle. She reached out to grip the handle and push it open, still full of nerves from the whole ordeal, but was stopped by pressure on her arm. "Not so fast. Make sure the glass still left on the window doesn't come showering upon you when you move the door. Careful."

She took a deep breath to calm herself, then reached out carefully and put a bit of pressure on the handle. The glass didn't fall. She pulled it as far as it would go, and a new crack appeared on the window. She froze. "It's okay," Kaiba said. "It won't fall yet. Just be careful…" After a slight hesitation, she pushed it open slowly.

Another crack ran through the glass, but nothing fell. Carefully, she stepped out, glass falling from her clothes and her hair. She turned around, relieved that she was safe. Kaiba followed shortly after, though he had more trouble coming from the other side, his height being only one of the things obstructing him. When he reached the door, though, he tripped over something inside that Serenity couldn't see and had to reach out to keep himself upright. He grabbed the top of the car door, and the rest of the glass came shattering down.

He cussed softly, though the glass didn't fall on him, his arm being on top of the window. When the shower stopped, he stepped out and took the door from Serenity's grasp, stepping back and almost slamming it closed. "That piece of trash isn't coming home with me," he muttered. "Let's get off the road."

"What about the man…? What happened to him?" Serenity asked, looking up at him.

"He's still alive somewhere. I didn't hit him. I'm surprised he isn't shouting in my face right now, though…" Sirens interrupted him. "Come on. Let's get off the road."

Surprisingly, even though he was the one who gave the command, he wasn't the one who followed it. Serenity walked on, anxious to get away from the horror, only to see he wasn't following. When she turned around, she saw him bending over something on the ground.

"Kaiba, I don't think…" She trailed off when she saw him picking up a small square of white off the road. He shook it free of glass, then opened it and scanned the contents as he stood in the middle of the road. Even when an official walked up to him and asked him to get off the road so the could survey the damage, he didn't budge. It wasn't until he was done that he walked away, much to the officer's surprise, and handed the letter to Serenity. "I think you'll want to see this."

She hesitantly took the paper, not sure she wanted to read it. She looked at the man before her, unsure, but he nodded, as if to say, go on, read it. When she did so, she felt as if the world was falling from under her.

"So it wasn't an accident," she whispered, tears coming to her eyes.

* * *

Like this chapter? There might have been some errors in wording, 'cause I wrote this kinda late at night, but yeah…My next chapter might be up in a week, or it might be up in a month. It all depends…we'll see. And does anyone think I'm making Serenity cry too much…? Review, please! 


	12. Chapter XII

Yay! Another chapter! Sorry if this one has some bad writing in it, but I've been busy with school work and tired, too. Oh, and it's most likely shorter than every other chapter I've written so far...sorry about that. Especially with band, with two periods of it a day, thirty minutes of lessons each Thursday morning at eight, four hours from five to nine of marching practice on Tuesdays, and Saturday rehearsals from nine to five, it gets tough to squeeze in time. Oh, did I forget to mention four hour football games that we play for sometimes? We've already done one…

But enough about me. Thanks to my reviewers!

**lilxangelxsweetz**: I tried to update as soon as I can…but here's the chapter! Hope you like it!

**shanichan11**: Maybe you're right about the crying thing…hmm…but thanks for the compliment, too!

**bingbing**: I have no idea if you were hyper then…haha, probably not. Or else you're always hyper when you review. And thanks for pointing out all the errors…but she's not crying too much because…well, the evidence is in this chapter. I found an error in your review, too, Miss Self-Named Nitpicker! You made cannot into two words! Mwahahaha! Just joking.

So, I don't own Yugioh…still… On with Chapter XII!

* * *

"It's a pity that Serenity had to leave so soon," Yugi commented. "The fun seemed to die away after she left."

The small group of four—Yugi, Tristan, Joey, and Tea—had left the donut shop. Serenity had exited not ten minutes before they had, but after she left, they had decided to leave, too. It was getting late, and it was time for them to go home or to their jobs, whether it was to finish homework or to get some money. However, they still had a bit of time to walk leisurely down the road and enjoy a bit of conversation.

"Yeah," Joey answered his friend dully. "Now that she spends all her time with Kaiba, I barely see her anymore. I feel a lot better when she's around."

"Only because you hate Kaiba so much. If she was with one of us, you wouldn't be so…grumpy about it." Tea looked at him for a second, then looked up at the sky that peeked between the tall buildings. "Well, you'll see her tonight. The rest of us won't see her until tomorrow, if you guys decide to meet us again to walk to school together."

"We will," he said. "What makes you think that we're not going to?"

"Easy, old pal." Tristan slung an arm over his friend's shoulders. "This morning, I didn't see you or your sweet sister's face."

Joey threw off the arm with a scowl. "Don't be messing with my sister," he warned. "No flirting with her, either. She's my sis and no one else's."

"No need to be so overprotective, Joey," Tea said as they crossed a street. "She's our friend, too, you know. She's known us longer than anyone else here other than you."

"I know," he muttered. "But seriously, that guy over there…"

"Hey!" Tristan butted in. "I'm not 'that guy'."

"What? You're a girl?" Tea said sarcastically. "I never knew that…not that I want to, of course."

"I never said that!"

"Yeah, Tristan, whatever."

* * *

Serenity was sitting at the edge of the curb near an ambulance, hugging her knees to her. The medics had insisted on looking over her cuts and bruises awhile ago, and she had been too frightened by all that had happened to say anything. Now, she was covered in thin layers of antibiotics and a few bandages, tears still leaking out of her eyes every once in awhile as her thoughts drifted back to the note that had been on the road.

"_I warned you already. Do what I asked you. This is a simple little warning about going against my words, nothing big. Just for taking so long to agree to my terms and the small job I gave you. However, do anything worse, and I'll make sure you'll regret it forever. Remember, I have eyes and ears everywhere to do my bidding."_

Kaiba was sitting by her side, knees up and arms dangling from them. He was wrapped up in his own bandages and covered in medications, a large but shallow cut on top of his eyebrow left unbandaged starting to dry up. His trench coat was lying on the ground beside him, torn and covered with little shards of glass and a few drops of blood. He didn't say anything or even look over at her, but somehow, his presence was reassuring to her. She couldn't explain it, but she didn't feel alone or so vulnerable with him there.

It didn't take away the fear that was nestled inside her, though. "Seto?" she asked in a small voice.

"Hmm?" He looked at her with a distracted gaze, focusing on a point above her huddled figure.

"In the note—do you think what was in it—about knowing exactly what I was doing—is it true?"

His eyes looked down and focused on the piece of paper that was in his hands. Serenity had dropped it and hadn't wanted it back. "No. If it were true, he would have done something worse. At least what he said about giving you the consequence for taking so long to agree to his terms proved that. He doesn't know you told me." His voice stayed quiet, not wanting anyone to overhear their conversation. "However, how he knew about you not doing anything he told you to…that means that someone's watching you." He looked back at her.

Serenity looked down at her hands clasped around her legs. The tears that seemed to keep on coming still came. She felt foolish, but she couldn't stop them from leaking out of her eyes and down her face. Everything that happened scared her so much…

She felt the weight of Kaiba's gaze lessen. "It's okay to cry. You've gone through a lot. Don't expect yourself to be able to stand up against everything right away."

She didn't answer. She continued to look out across the road at nothing, trying to build her composure back up again. Something must have shown in her eyes, because she heard the light sound of glass falling and felt something heavy but warm come to rest on her shoulders. Looking up in surprise, she saw Kaiba's trenchcoat wrapped around her, and his clear blue eyes looking out into the distance once more.

The silence was comforting once again. Not wanting to break it, she looked out into a place of her own.

* * *

The gang had stopped at a crosswalk waiting for their turn to cross the road. They were still bantering and chatting with each other, their subject no longer Tristan, but ideas for a school project they would be working on soon. Tea looked at the surroundings around her, familiar but ever changing. A large crowd of people and cars caught her eye. "Guys, what do you think is happening over there?"

"I might choose to do—what, Tea? Where?" Joey asked.

Yugi saw it, too. "Right at the corner of the next block. Over there, right in front of us." He pointed.

Tristan began walking across the street in that direction. "Well, what are you guys waiting for? It's in our way, anyway. Might as well check it out."

"Um, Tristan, whatever is in that crowd might not be a good thing…" Yugi started to say. However, his friend was already too far away to hear, or else he chose to ignore them.

Joey started following. "Stop worrying so much, Yugi. It's probably nothing. Come on, let's go. The light's going to change soon."

"Yeah, we need to cross the street anyway," Tea said. She looked down at Yugi, who was still standing there, unsure. "I don't really want to know what's there, either, but we have to go that way, so why not just cross the street now?" She prodded him.

"Alright," Yugi sighed.

In the end, they were almost running. Tristan was way ahead of them, and neither of the three wanted him to do anything before they got there. Despite their doubts, none of them could restrain their feeling of curiosity that was slowly but surely taking over. Also, Joey was setting the pace and pulled them along. "Hey!" Tea said indignantly. "You're not supposed to drag a girl around like this, Joey!"

However, when they caught up with Tristan in the middle of the crowd, they forgot about the manner they had used to get there. "Check it out, you guys," Tristan said softly. An expensive car was smashed into a light pole on the side of the road, glass and small scraps of metal strewn all around it. The windows were gaping holes, and skid marks came from behind the back two wheels. A small bundle was still in the back of the car.

"It looks a lot like Kaiba's car…" Yugi commented nervously.

"Joey?" a young girl's startled voice called out. "Yugi? Tea?"

They turned as one to the sidewalk several feet away from them. Shock lit up their features as they saw who it was. Serenity.

"Serenity! Are you okay? What happened?" Joey ran to his sister, heedless of the glass underfoot and the officials still on the scene.

She tried to get up and walk over to her brother, but she was still in disorder from the accident. She was halfway up when she fell back onto the curb. Kaiba stood up and helped her to her feet, then followed her as she went to Joey. "I—I'm okay. I'm not seriously injured, or anything like that."

"Are you sure? You look really pale. What—" He stopped when he finally realized who was standing close by other than his friends. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Kaiba? I thought you said you were going to make sure she was safe. You just got her in a car accident!" he exploded in barely contained anger.

Kaiba looked at him with a flat gaze. "Wheeler, if you thought I was speeding and lost control of the car, or did something else equally stupid, think again. A—"

"I don't care if you did something stupid or smart! You just put my sister's life in danger! She could have been killed!"

"I'm not done yet." He said it in such a cold tone of voice that no one dared say anything more. He let his gaze wander over them one by one, now burning with a blue intensity. They rested on Joey. "A pedestrian decided that it would be safe to cross a busy road in black with his head down. By the time your sister caught sight of him, it was too late to do anything but turn the car around."

"My sis caught sight of him? What about you? Where were you looking? And it was too late to do anything but turn the car around? What about the brakes?" Joey's hands were fists by now, and a scowl crossed his red face.

"I was taking a glance at the rearview mirror to change lanes, Wheeler. If I had stepped on the brakes then, the car would be on its hood. And neither your sister nor me would be here right now, dead or alive."

"Why, you…" Joey lunged at Kaiba.

"No, Joey! Don't!" his sister cried.

However, he didn't seem to hear her. His fist connected to Kaiba's jaw before any of his friends could stop him. Kaiba staggered backwards, then regained his balance and grabbed Joey's wrist as the hand attempted to draw away, then twisted it sharply. Everything else was a blur of fists and arms as the Wheeler sibling attempted to hit Kaiba, and as Kaiba defended himself.

Tristan and Yugi grabbed their friend's arms and dragged him away as he continued to try and hurt the man before him. Serenity jumped between them. "Stop it, Joey! Stop! It wasn't his fault!"

"Yes it was," he growled, trying to loosen his friends' grip and escape for another chance to hit the man. "Let me go! And get out of the way, Serenity! He deserves it!"

A hand reached out and rested on Serenity's shoulder. "Don't get in the middle of this. If his friends can't hold him, you'll get hurt." She turned around and looked up at Kaiba, who was looking at Joey. His cut was bleeding again, the blood running into his eyes, and a bit of blood ran down the corner of his mouth and his bruised jaw. He didn't seem to care, though; he looked at her brother instead. "Wheeler, I thought we had an agreement. I kept my side of the bargain. But it seems you've broken your side of the pact for the second time today. I'm starting to think it's a waste of my time. Your sister has already been through a lot; you're only pulling her into the middle now. If you don't care about my feelings or have any respect for those around you, at least think about your sister." His gaze was blazing in anger, though he looked composed and calm otherwise.

"I am thinking about her! If I wasn't, I wouldn't care a bit about you being here! Who else's fault would it be that she's hurt?"

"You don't need to beat me up for me to figure out it was my fault. I never said it wasn't mine."

"Yes I do! After everything you've done to me, Yugi, and the rest of us, what else do you need? If it wasn't for your arrogance and your thinking, 'I'm better than you', we'd all be better off!"

"Joey, please…" Serenity pleaded.

He didn't listen. "I don't care if you're a CEO of a company, and I wouldn't care if you ruled the world! Power doesn't give you the right to do whatever you want to us!"

"Joey! Please! Just listen to me for a second!" Tears were glistening at the corner of her eyes. She couldn't stand to watch her brother and Kaiba fight, especially over her, because…well…because… Because Seto was a close friend to her now. She knew someone was going to end up hating her because of her decision, but what could she do? No matter what she tried, all she would end up doing would be to hurt both of them more.

"Wheeler, there is a huge crowd of people watching us. Unless you want your face on the front of the paper tomorrow morning, I would suggest bringing this somewhere else." He spit out a mouthful of blood and wiped away what was still on his chin.

"Forget the papers! You'll be on there tomorrow, anyway! Because of your brother and all of the other stuff going on!" He turned to his sister. "I told you not to help him! I told you it would all end bad! If you weren't helping him, you wouldn't have your life hanging on a thread right now!"

Serenity was taken back by the sudden turn of anger. "J—Joey…I—I…"

Kaiba interrupted. "Well, maybe I shouldn't have let her then, huh?" he said softly. Serenity turned around quickly, not believing what she had just heard. "If I never agreed to let her, then…Well, if it makes two siblings happier to be together and not have someone in the middle, then it's the right thing to do." He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. They revealed nothing. "Serenity, you can do whatever you want in the afternoons, but you're not staying with me or helping me."

Her eyes widened in shock, and a few tears that she had successfully kept in her eyes ran down her cheeks. Kaiba didn't care for them, though. "Your brother's right. If you don't hang around me, you'll be better off. Think of how your life was before…before Mokuba was taken. You seemed happy enough with your friends. Now, it's just a bunch of stress and thoughts in turmoil. I can read it on your face. So stay away from me. It'll be better that way."

With that, he turned around swiftly and strode off before anyone could say a word. Serenity gazed after him wordlessly with tear-filled eyes, blurring the world. But she saw clearly his form as he turned his back on her, leaving her and the memories of their friendship behind. Striding away with his head held high, even after what the words had cost him, and walking out into the open and to whatever his fate held for him. The memory would be with her for years.

It was only when he was gone when she realized she still had his coat around her. She pulled it tightly around her, turned away, and let the tears fall freely.

* * *

So, that was the chapter. Worse quality writing than normal, huh? And I know it's shorter, but I don't have much time to type right now…maybe after November and marching band practices are done and over.

Okay, I have never been in a car accident—I've only been in a car that was touched by a truck, but that's it. So if the description is off…sorry. I don't know what it's like. Also, I'm too young to drive, and I've never really seen any fights, so those may be…um…yeah….

Review, please!


	13. Chapter XIII

Long time no see! Sorry about taking so long to update this…I'm really busy with band and school and all that. But now I have a little bit of time… Yes, this chapter is a bit short, and yes, I might not be updating again for a long time, but please, don't loose interest!

Thanks to the reviewers!

**bingbing:** He knows that they're watching her because of that letter, but he knows that they don't know about her telling him because the letter isn't urgent sounding. If they knew, do you think they would hesitate to write a harsher letter?

**lilxangelxsweetz**: I hate him sometimes, too…

**Shanichan11:** I can't tell you anything about Mokuba…it'll spoil the story! But something doing with him will happen very soon…

On with the story!

* * *

Serenity stared up at the tall business building before her, with its glass windows and walls. All of a sudden, she didn't feel like she could walk up there anymore. Walking on a bench a few feet from the skyscraper, she put her backpack at her feet and sat down.

It had been a week since the accident had happened. Surprisingly, nothing from a third party had occurred after then. Still, she had been quiet and distant, unwilling to talk to her friends or even her brother about it. Only able to talk with herself about it, it took up her thoughts all day and all night. She had been so far into her memories that she could rarely concentrate on anything for long, and her friends had worried unceasingly over her condition, trying to get her to become her old self again and whispering to each other about her when they weren't. Even though they thought she didn't notice anything around her, she did.

Most of her thoughts hadn't been on the crash itself. She didn't remember enough to think about that. Instead, they were mostly of Seto and Mokuba. It seemed that everything she had done had been so good before; she had even gotten praise for her work. But now, after Seto had told her he didn't want her help, it brought the world crashing down. She knew now that she hadn't helped anyone at all. All the praise she had received had been nothing but comments—she could see that now. Instead of doing everything right, she had done nothing. All of the information they had obtained was what Kaiba had found. The puzzle pieces that had been put together were put together by him. All she had done was burden him, and hold him back.

Serenity shivered. It was getting chilly out here. She huddled into her sweater and put her hands inside the sleeves as far as they would go, and crossed her legs together. She watched as businessmen and women hurried home and wished she was one of them. But she couldn't just walk away, now that she was so close. Leaning back and staring up at the sky, she could see the logo KC once more. She had to get the courage some way to go up to Kaiba's office. Her apology had been delayed for too long already.

It was so hard just to walk to the doors, though. To go up the elevator into that office would be…would be…she didn't know. And even if she did manage all of it and eve to knock on the door? Would he let her in to talk, or would he immediately make her get out? Would he even consider looking in her direction?

Frantically, she pushed the thoughts from her mind. Doubts would get her nowhere now. She had gotten this far, and she only had so little to go. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself down, she stood up, pulled her backpack onto her shoulder, and walked towards the door of Kaiba Corporation.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kaiba was in his office, like usual, doing his everyday work. Nothing seemed unusual about today, other than he still had that nagging feeling in the back of his mind. It had been there since…well, he didn't know. All he knew was that it had come recently, and he had no idea what was causing it. He felt like he was anticipating something, but he had no idea what. It was almost as if he was waiting for something to pop up and surprise him. How he wished that feeling would be true and let the surprise be his brother…

These last few days had yielded no new information concerning Mokuba. Everything that had been happening before was still the same, but nothing showed up anymore. He sat back in his chair and reflected on that thought as he waited for a file to be sent.

Sometimes, it seemed that the young Wheeler was a magnet attracting everything. Once she was around, all sorts of things started popping up. When she wasn't, everything was boring and plain. It made no sense. She didn't have anything to do with this unless she decided to help him. If she hadn't helped, would any of this even happened? Or would it have found another target in an important employee in his company instead? Maybe this was all to wound and hurt him until he broke down and couldn't stand it anymore. If so, why Serenity Wheeler out of all people? He had barely noticed her before…

He frowned as his mind focused once more on that thought, not noticing the window that popped up. _Out of all people_. Why not just send the threats to him instead of some innocent girl that was pulled into the whole scheme? Sure, she had been Mokuba's best friend and would be the easiest to move because of that. He was made of harder stuff, and, therefore, would be even harder to move than most people despite having his brother as the captive. But what made his nemesis think that she would be the one to make the difference? They had talked only once before then unless Mokuba made them, and ignored each other's presence. They avoided each other when they could. Only Mokuba put them within ten feet of each other. Why was she so important to this whole thing all of a sudden?

Unless his nemesis thought something of the girl. Unless the enemy knew something about her that he didn't, and was using her for that. If that was true…he almost refused to think about that. She was too ignorant to even have something like that go through her head. But if someone gave her the idea…If it was true, then someone or something was misplaced. Either she was putting up an act, or someone else she knew well was.

Doubts began to fill his mind. Did she know something he didn't? And was she hiding it? If she was, then everything he had put his trust and confidence in was all wrong, completely wrong. Everything he had put together so far would have been misplaced. Those he mistrusted and those he trusted could all be placed in the wrong place. His expression darkened. Something was wrong with this…

The feeling of expectation gnawed at him again as he doubted all his mind had just gone through. Was that something else…? Surely not. He was just being foolish, nothing else. None of that mattered now, anyway. She was gone and wouldn't come back, and he was sure that no one would take her place, either. He was left to do it on his own, the old way. Just how he liked it.

His hand had just left the mouse and was touching the keys on the keyboard when a timid knock sounded on the door. He narrowed his eyes and looked out of the corner of his eye. "What is it?" he growled, suddenly in a foul mood. He was a bit surprised, and had no idea what caused the attitude change, but he didn't let it show. If felt like it fit, anyway.

The door clicked as the knob on the other side was turned, and inched open hesitantly. Wheeler, his mind thought at once; but as soon as the thought popped up, he turned it down. Of course it wasn't her. He opened his mouth to say something else that befitted his grim mood, but instead, they were stuck in the back of his throat in surprise. It was her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, failing to completely hide his surprise.

However, Serenity didn't notice. She edged into the room just enough to close the door behind her, then stood there, with her backpack still slung over her shoulders, looking down and twiddling her fingers. "Well, um…" she stuttered. "I—I just wanted to apologize…"

Kaiba sighed quietly to himself. Was she going to stand in his office all day like she did before? Anticipating how long it was going to take for her to tell him what she wanted to tell him, he got comfortable in his chair before saying anything. "Apologize for what?"

"For…for…" She took a deep breath before continuing. He could tell she was fighting something from the expression that flitted across her face. "For…wasting your time. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have begged to help you in the first place. I—I didn't help you anyway."

Kaiba scrutinized her for a few seconds. She was still staring down, unable to meet his eyes. Her face was turning pink, no doubt from embarrassment that he had unknowingly caused until now, and she looked even more nervous. She was still the same shy and quiet girl he had known before, but somehow, she was different. When had she found it in herself to be so straightforward? It almost seemed like another person…He pushed the thoughts away and let his mind wander back to the conversation. So she had come up here to apologize. "Serenity, you didn't have to come up here to apologize."

Her head came up meekly when he said that. Her eyes showed her nervousness and a bit of confusion. "Really? But I thought—"

He interrupted her. "_I_ think you need to boost up your self esteem. Why do you think you weren't any help just because I said it was dangerous for you to hang around me?"

"Well…um…I…I…"

He shook his head and pushed himself out of his chair. "You helped me a lot, Serenity, and I really appreciated it. But I can't let you stay and help anymore. I would be happy to accept more help, but I can't. Don't put any blame on yourself because Mokuba is still missing." She looked back at him, doubt still lingering on her face.

_Damn you_, he thought, _why do you have to be so difficult?_ He pushed his hair out of his eyes. "The world doesn't work the way you think it does, okay? I have no idea how else to put it. Not everything in this world has happy endings, and most don't have happiness the whole way down the road. I know you're not happy that you couldn't find him, but that's the way life is. And—" he hesitated, "—we may never get Mokuba back, either. It's just the way life is," he said softly, his blue gaze intent on her. "Don't think that's what I want. It isn't. That's just how the world works."

Serenity's eyes widened in shock, just as he had anticipated. "But…"

"There's no buts. The world is a cold, harsh place." He stayed that way a bit longer, reclined in his chair with icy eyes steady. Abruptly, he stood up and walked to the girl that looked so helpless and lonely before him. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he turned her gently towards the door. "It's best that you don't stay here too long. We both have work to do, and it's time we go our separate ways. But," he said as they reached the door, "I promise you, nothing in this world will stop me from reaching Mokuba. Nothing."

He led her out of the office and softly closed the door behind her. Well, enough of that. There was work to do now, and lots of it. He didn't need troubling thoughts on his mind.

However, he didn't get back to work. Instead, he sat in his chair and waited. He felt like something wasn't resolved; that there was still something left to do before he could go back to what he was doing before. Elbows on his desk and interlaced fingers at his chin, he sat there and watched the door, waiting.

Kaiba didn't have to wait long. Even before she had put her hand in contact to the smooth surface to knock, he said, "Come in." Nothing happened at first, no doubt surprise that he had known she was going to come in again, but the door eventually opened. Once again, the door inched open hesitantly. He sat there and waited for her to say something. He knew she would come in again, and he could guess that she was going to ask if she could help again—after all, wasn't that what she came to do in the first place?—but he wanted her to ask.

She didn't come in, but she stuck her head inside his office. "Sorry if I'm interrupting you…I just wanted to ask you something."

Kaiba nodded and let her continue. "Well, um…" She hesitated. "Is it okay if I still call you Seto?"

Mentally, he rolled his eyes and shook his head. Was she ever going to be able to do things a bit more directly? Not that it was always a bad thing, but most of the time, it was. Or at least in his experience. Outwardly, though, he showed no sign of what was happening inside. Instead, he nodded. "Is that all?" he prompted.

"Well, um…" He watched her carefully and saw that her mouth was prepared to say, yes, that's all. But the small pause was enough to tell him it wasn't. "I wanted to ask…if…if…"

Suddenly, Kaiba was loosing his patience. He still had loads of work to do, if she didn't. "You wanted to ask if you could still help. Or beg, or whatever."

She gaped at him, then quickly hid the expression. "Well…um…yes, that was what I wanted to ask…" He didn't answer, but simply watched and waited.

She looked confused for a few moments, no doubt wondering why he wasn't answering. "Can I?" she asked.

"Can you what?"

"Can I still help you?"

Kaiba thought through what she said deeply. Before, he had thought nothing of it and let her, and it brought many things falling. Was it really wise to let her help again? But how would she feel if he said no?

He got up and looked out the window. He was silent for a few moments before he said, "To say it bluntly, I don't know. It's a lot you're asking of me."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

It was awhile before he finally spoke again. "I'll consider it. But don't get your hopes too high, or they might come crashing down. Like I've told you before, this is dangerous work. I don't know if it's worth risking your life for it. I'll tell you when I reach a decision."

He heard a small thank you, but stayed facing the window, saying nothing. He was lost in his thoughts once more by the time the door clicked shut.

* * *

A few days later, the phone rang at the Wheeler's household. Joey grumbled, complaining that it was ruining his enjoyment of television. However, he dropped the huge bag of chips he was eating from and answered the phone anyway. "Hello?"

_"Is Serenity there?"_

"And who is this?" Joey asked. What was a guy doing calling Serenity? Maybe if it was Duke or Tristan, it would be fine, but he didn't exactly recognize the voice. However, it did sound a bit familiar…

_"It's Kaiba. I—"_

"Kaiba!" Joey exploded. "What are you doing calling us? I thought you were done with us!"

He heard a sigh. _"Look, Wheeler, just get your sister on the phone. I need to tell her something."_

"Well, she's not home. If there's anything you want to tell her, tell me."

There was a pause. "_If I tell you, how can I be sure that you'll tell her for me? Or should I just call later?"_

"I'll find out anyway, Kaiba. Just tell me."

_"Fine. Tell your sister that I'll pick her up at the parking lot next Monday."_

"What? Why? What are you hiding?" Joey asked suspiciously. However, Kaiba had already hung up.

His face darkened slightly. "Was is that bastard up to?" he muttered. He was going to have a long talk with his sister tonight. She was hiding something, he knew it. "Well, I'll think about it later. It's time for some TV." He jumped back on the couch and picked up the chips once more, munching on them and watching the show like there was nothing else more important.

* * *

So, that's it for now. Hope it was good enough; after all, I haven't been submitting anything for awhile. Review, please! 


	14. Chapter XIV

So marching season just finished yesterday, and I just got back home this morning from championships. But as I promised, I would have a chapter ready by the time the season ended. And here it is…I spent the early afternoon finishing the second half, so you'd better be happy. Haha, just playing around.

Anyway, thanks to my reviewers! Since I can't answer them here now…I'll have to send you the replies. It'll be so much harder…I have to delete all the other replies, now. But those are my problems, not yours. On with the story!

* * *

Serenity stared dismally out of a window, wishing she was anywhere but here. She had come home from a peaceful walk around the city to a brother with darkened spirits. The comfort of the familiar surroundings that she felt she had needed to enjoy again had made her happy again. Opening the door had destroyed it. "We need to talk, Serenity." Those had been his first words.

Just those few words—and his expression—had been enough to tell her what happened. Kaiba had called the house saying something that Joey didn't like hearing, and it had to do with her. And what he said afterward—"I thought I told you we were done with Kaiba and Mokuba"—had only confirmed her thoughts. Well, what could she do now but listen to what he had to say?

Joey sighed, plopping down onto the couch. She knew he had been eating chips and watching TV before the call had come from the remote control that had sat beside a bag of chips. Now, they were gone, her brother not in the spirits to enjoy them anymore.

"He said he didn't want your help anymore." He said that bluntly, without preamble.

His sister continued to stare out the window from the chair, feeling his gaze on her back. "I know," she replied softly. "But I asked him if I could help again anyway."

"Why? There's no use trying to help a man like him. He has all the technology possible to find Mokuba. He's used to working alone anyway."

"I…I don't know. It just felt right. I know you don't want me to be with him so much, big brother, but I can't help it."

Silence hung in the air, heavy and oppressing. She felt the emptiness of his gaze moving away from her. "Don't you get it, Serenity? It's not because of him I'm concerned about you doing what you want, but you. I'm not trying to make your choices for you, or keep you from doing what you want, but what you're choosing is…"

"What, Joey?"

"It—It's not something I can just put into words. I just don't feel that it's right for you to neglect all of your friends for him. I understand now that you're friends, and I can't do anything short of breaking your heart to stop it, but Yugi, Tea, Tristan, and I feel as if you're leaving us behind."

She turned around to face him. He was looking up at the ceiling, hands behind his head, as if he could find the answers there. "I—I didn't mean to do that. I guess I've been so caught up with everything I wanted to do, I've just supposed that it would be okay with you. You've always understood before…I guess I really wasn't thinking about it. I'm sorry."

Joey bent down and put his face in his hands. "No, no, it's not that. We understand, and it's okay with us. I mean, we never really get much of a chance to see you anyway." He paused. "What am I doing trying to explain this to you? I'm not the right person to do it. I can't even figure out what I'm trying to say."

She watched her brother in silence, waiting for him to say something else. Eventually, after what seemed an eternity of listening to the clock ticking away the seconds, he said, "Well, we might as well prepare dinner."

However, none of them stood up to start. They stayed in their seats, Joey examining his hands in a hunched position, Serenity twisted from the window. "What is it, Joey?" she asked softly. "What aren't you telling me?"

He sighed. "Yugi, Tea, Tristan, and the others are coming over later. Around six or six-thirty. They called while you were gone. I was going to tell you, but…" He left his reason hanging in the air.

"Oh. Okay." His sister looked down at her hands, unable to look at her brother. They used to never keep secrets from each other, even when they had been hundreds of miles apart. Now, even together, it seemed so different. A rift was starting to grow between them, and she couldn't bear it. Yet she couldn't bear it that her brother was blaming it all on her, either, and the attitude that she had always thought to be so caring before seemed to be…well, tiresome, now. Not saying another word, she pushed herself out of the chair and walked out of the room quietly.

* * *

Both of them were still silent and unwilling to talk when the doorbell rang for the first time. They quickly glanced at the other, then Joey quickly went to the door. It was Tea.

"Hey, Joey." She smiled gratefully as she walked in the door. It wasn't until she had taken off her shoes and turned around to address her friend once more when she noticed Serenity standing nearby. "Oh, hi, Serenity." She smiled and walked over to her, not noticing the shadow across the older sibling's face as he backed off into the kitchen. "How's everything? Are you feeling better?"

Serenity tried her best to be her usual and charming self. "Yeah, I guess. I'm getting used to it," she lied.

"Oh, well that's good. Tristan and Duke won't act so…odd…anymore." She shook her head. "You have no idea how crazy they've been. They almost seem like someone else."

She smiled in reply, knowing that her friend was trying to explain their concerns for a girl they liked more than what was usual.

Just then, Joey came back in. "Do you want anything, Tea? Anything to drink, or something to eat?" he asked.

"Hmm…" Tea mused. "Maybe a glass of juice? I've got to admit, that walk made me a bit thirsty."

"Well," he said, walking back to the kitchen and opening the door to their small refrigerator and rummaging a bit, "we have apple juice and some cranberry-grape juice. Which one?"

"I think I'll have some of the cranberry-grape."

Joey took out a tall glass from a cabinet and slowly poured in the juice. "Here you are, Tea."

"Thanks," she acknowledged gratefully.

Over the course of fifteen minutes, the rest of them came over. The arrival of Yugi and Tristan didn't surprise her, but as more people came, the more suspicious she became. Why were they all meeting here? Duke, Mai, and even Ryou came. It seemed a bit awkward that they were meeting in their cramped house instead of Mr. Motou's game shop, where they usually met.

Slowly, they settled in the living room, each of them with a drink in hand—except for Serenity—and a few snacks out on the table. They were mostly talking about school gossip and joking around with each other, seeming as if they were just hanging around. She hung back, standing in the corner, not really able to join and feeling left out about something they were hiding. The whole thing about coming over to hang out seemed false, like an act to shadow something so obvious.

She was looking around the room for the hundredth time, trying to keep herself from becoming any more bored than she already was, when she caught Duke's eye. She quickly looked away again, not wanting to be bothered by him, either, but it was too late. He made his way over to her.

"Hey, Serenity," he greeted. He hadn't been talking too much, either.

She tried to take away the boredom; instead of friendliness that had always been so easy for her to reach, she found herself wishing that she was off by herself. Not able to make eye contact, she simply kept silent. She felt sick inside and nowhere near feeling like having a conversation.

"You okay? Is something bothering you?"

"No, I'm fine," she said.

"Are you sure? You look like something's nagging at you." He waited for a reply. When he didn't get one, he changed the topic. "Did you get any news about Kaiba or his brother? Has he decided to let us help yet?"

She shook her head slightly. Why couldn't he just get the clue that she didn't want him near her right now?

Duke sighed. "That jerk. He knows we can help him, but he's just too damn high and mighty to let us do anything. Well, at least he won't be rubbing off on any of us anytime soon, now. He'll be too busy."

She immediately felt something tighten inside of her, something that seemed almost foreign to her. "You don't know him," she said quietly.

"What is there to know about a man like him, Serenity? He's nothing but a egotistical CEO that thinks he controls the world by his word. There's nothing else to it." He leaned over a bit and peered into her face. "By the way, where have you been the last week? We've been trying to send you an invitation to meet with us, but you haven't answered except for now. Is anything happening now?"

"No," she lied again. The little knot inside seemed to grow within her, and it made her feel sick.

"Are you sure? I mean…" he trailed off.

"Yes." She turned away from him and looked out the window.

"Hey, Serenity," a voice interrupted.

She quickly looked over to recognize Yugi's voice. He tried a smile. "Hey, um…before you left, did Kaiba say anything about us being able to help?"

Serenity hesitated. "No," she finally said. Something felt wrong.

"Oh. Okay." Yugi was silent for a few moments. No one else spoke. "Well, you know that Joey told me about…that already, right?"

Serenity, who was looking out the window once more, immediately turned around. Her eyes, full of hurt and betrayal, found their way to her brother. How could he? She thought she could trust him, even if he hadn't been exactly happy about it. She said nothing in reply.

"What do you mean, Yugi?" Mai asked.

"He means that she just got rehired," Joey answered flatly for his friend. "Without telling me anything about it at all."

His sister laughed softly, bitterly, incredulously. "How can you say that? I didn't even know until you told me when I got home."

"I'm sure he didn't decide to let you work again just out of the blue," he shot back. "What did you do, huh, that made him change his mind?"

"I don't know. I just…talked to him after school, that's all."

"And it never occurred to you to ask him if we were going to do anything? Do you really think I like letting you around him alone like that?"

"Why don't you go ask him yourself, then? Why don't you tell him yourself?"

"Because it doesn't matter if you don't follow my instructions. It doesn't—"

"Your instructions? I'm sorry, Joey, but I think it's time I live by my own rules. I can decide what I feel like doing myself. And if it's wrong, I'll find out myself and fix it next time. I don't need you to tell me which is right and which isn't."

"You don't, huh?" Joey turned around, a shadow falling over his features. "Alright then. I guess you don't need me to provide for you either. Why don't you go find another home for yourself?"

Their friends, who had been silent the whole time, gasped. What had happened to the two siblings that had once been so close and inseparable? Where were the people that they knew, the stubborn but loving one and the kind and shy one? Where had they gone?

Serenity glared at him as tears built up in her eyes. "Fine, Joey, I will. If that's what it takes for me to be able to have my own freedom, then why not?" An angry tear fell from the corner of her eye. She turned towards the door. "Don't count on seeing me again anytime soon."

The door slammed behind her before the faces of those that she used to trust the most.

* * *

Serenity ran down the street, the tears blinding her vision. She didn't know where she was going, she didn't care where she was going. She just had to get away. She let her legs carry her wherever they went, never stopping at an intersection. She simply ran as the rain started to fall.

The conversations ran again and again through her head. This one, the first one, the ones that never even got anywhere. All of it seemed to torment her now, no longer making any sense. Faster, she had to run faster. If she didn't, she would never get away from them. It was no stopping.

_If my parents were still here…_

_If Joey wasn't my brother…_

_If they had accepted Seto more…_

_If Mokuba had never been gone in the first place…_

_If she had never even tried to help…_

_If—_

If love could be so much simpler.

She startled herself with that thought. Love? What did she know about it? She had never fallen in love with anyone, never received it from family or friends. She had thought so then, but now she knew, it was all a lie. What Joey had shown her was never brotherly love, but his way of getting what he wanted without her ever figuring out. They deserved those lies she had told them, for what they had done.

But what was it really? She knew he had done the best he could to raise her, and her friends to stay by her side. What had made her say those terrible things, and to lie right before them?

She ran on as the thoughts continued to chase her and devour at her heart, leaving her feeling empty inside with no more than hurt and pain.

* * *

"I can't believe you said that, Joey!" Mai shouted after the silence. "You knucklehead! She's your sister, not just some friend!"

He walked past her and shoved her roughly out of his way. "I don't need you to tell me what to do. Get out of my way."

She stared at him, shocked, as he walked down the hallway and slammed his door behind him. "Joey…" she whispered.

Tea walked over to the couch and hugged her friend gently. "Don't take what he said seriously. He's just so worked up that he said things he never meant to say."

"I know," Mai whispered. "It's just…" How could she reveal what she felt? Her dreams, her wishes, her thoughts…they were shattered.

"Oh, Mai," Tea whispered in reply, staring ahead of her to Yugi. She knew exactly what Mai felt, her own feelings for another duelist in the room just as strong. "I know, I know."

The four remaining boys stared at each other uncertainly. "I—I think we should go now," Ryou forced out. It was the first time he had been able to speak through the whole thing. "I don't think Joey wants us here anymore."

"You're right," Tristan said. "Well, so much for this get together," he muttered.

"Come on, let's get out. I don't want to stay in this dump anymore," grumbled Duke. "Let's leave."

They walked out together, a sullen group relying on each other to go on. They were so much smaller now.

* * *

Kaiba was walking through the rain like the rest of them, his thoughts unsettled and restless. Maybe walking home today would do some good, he had thought. When it had started raining, he began to wish he had just stayed inside and kept working. It was miserable out here, so gray and dreary. It was no help, here.

He was just about to turn back around, with everything he had packed up to work on at home in his briefcase now ready to be left at the office instead, when he felt someone run into him from behind. He grunted in surprise as he was thrown at the wall of the store beside him. He turned around to look at what had hit him.

He saw a short girl that barely reached his chest, dark auburn hair soaking wet and dripping. He was surprised to see that she was running around in no more than a pair of jeans, shoes, and a shirt. "Sorry," she muttered, ready to resume her fleeing.

"Wait a second," he said under his breath, grabbing at the girl's upper arm. He peered at her face. "Serenity? What are you doing running around in the rain like that? Aren't you supposed to be home?"

The girl looked up with hazel green eyes filled with tears, rain running down her hair and her face. He saw that her clothes were soaked all the way through, and could feel her shivering. Her eyes widened. She buried her face in his shirt without a word.

He was too surprised to move at first. Slowly, though, he let his briefcase fall to his side and let his arms come around her to hold her close. It seemed so warm to know that someone was still depending on him and needing to rely on his strength. But why her?

He searched for the answers through the rain, standing against the wall under an overhang with a girl in his arms. He couldn't find any.

* * *

So, did you like it? I personally thought it was cute…from now on, things will start to get faster. It'll get better, I promise you. Review, please! 


	15. Chapter XV

Alright, I know I haven't updated in a good long while…I'm so sorry! The time between Thanksgiving Break and Christmas Break was filled with a bunch of last minute projects and a bunch of stuff to learn, and, the worst, tests. Yes, I had tests in every class but band on my last day. Actually, supposed to, since we didn't have time in one class, but I still studied anyway.

And now that it's Christmas Break, I've been trying to do more of what I'm not able to do at all during school—drawing something good and spending time on it, spending time with family, practicing some clarinet stuff to play for my family, and I'm also trying to do more of what I don't have as much time to do during school. So, everything's being pushed around, and one of them as of now is fanfiction. Sorry…

I wanted to put this up earlier, originally, but because of the afore mentioned, I was not able to. The next chapter was supposed to be up by today…whoops.

Well…I've forgotten the disclaimer in many of my previous chapters, so here it is once more. The characters and places in this fanfiction are the property of…the guy who wrote Yugioh. Yes, sad, I don't know his name…

Okay. Enough rambling. On with Chapter XV!

* * *

"What happened?" Kaiba asked softly for the second time. They were still standing out in the rain, dripping wet and soaked. She hadn't wanted to talk at first, simply crying and clinging to him. Knowing that it might take awhile for her to tell him, if she even would, he stopped asking her. However, it seemed that she had stopped crying. Maybe she would feel good enough to talk now.

He was right. She began to talk, but he couldn't hear a word she was saying. "Serenity, stop mumbling. I can't hear you." He pulled her away from him and put a companionable arm around her shoulders. "Just tell me while we're walking. It should make you feel better."

She wiped at her eyes. "Well, you know how my brother picked up the phone? When I came back, he was angry with me. But he wouldn't tell me the reason."

"What do you mean?"

Taking in a breath to calm what remained of her nerves, she told him the event with all the details she could remember. Her friend listened without interruption, though questions formed in clusters in his head. There would be no use asking all these questions, anyway. It wasn't like she would know the answer to most of them, anyway. They were all reasons, and not hers.

When she finished, he kept silent for awhile, staring up at the sky. It was dark, but he could see the faint outlines of clouds reflected in the sky. He thought he could detect the moon's light behind a thin blanket of clouds, a small, dim glow. That must have been most of the rain that would fall for awhile.

He looked back down at the girl beside him. "Well? What do you want to do about it?"

"I don't know…" she said softly, looking down at her hands clasped before her.

"You haven't thought that far yet, have you?" he chuckled softly. "Well, you have awhile. I'm not in much of hurry right now."

"Where were you going?" she questioned, looking up at him. "I mean, before I ran into you."

He shrugged. "Home. I had enough of work for awhile."

"Walking?" she asked, surprised. "In the rain? But I thought…"

"That I would take a car? Probably. No, I needed some time to think. Driving requires too much concentration." The corners of his mouth twitched up. "And you're lucky I decided to walk. Or else you would probably still be running around."

"Yeah," she admitted. They stayed quiet for a while longer. Suddenly, she said, "Are you still going home now? I thought your home was"—she pointed behind them—"in that direction."

So she had finally caught on. He was starting to wonder if she had forgotten all the trips to visit Mokuba so long ago, or if she simply had never paid attention. "No, I'm not."

Those few words were enough to give her a pause. "But you said…"

"What did I say?"

"You said that you were heading home…" She sounded uncertain.

"You asked where I was heading _before_ you ran into me, and I said home. I never said anything about _now_." Amusement tinged his words.

He could tell from the slight frown that was lightly wrinkling her forehead that she was confused. "Then…then where are you going now?"

All signs of amusement and cordiality disappeared. "I'm taking you home."

She stopped suddenly, and he had taken a few more steps before he could stop. He turned around to consider the girl, who now had her head down and her hands clasped before her in a shy manner once more. "I'm not going."

He sighed, knowing even as he had spoken the words that she wouldn't just give in. He ran a hand through his wet hair and walked over to her. "Where else do you plan on going, then? It's not like you have anywhere else to go. You don't have any relatives living near, do you?"

She stubbornly refused to answer, simply standing on the middle of the sidewalk and looking down. He could see that she was trying her hardest not to cry again from the unfocused look in her eyes and the set of her mouth. However, she couldn't keep up the pretense for long. Tears leaked out of her eyes again. "I don't want to go," she whispered.

The look on Seto's face softened when he saw her shoulders beginning to shake. Putting an arm around her shoulders once more, he pulled at her slightly. "Well, there's no use standing out here," he said. "Let's just continue to walk, okay?"

Sniffling a bit and wiping her eyes, she nodded.

* * *

The sun was hidden behind the tall buildings of downtown when they finally reached Serenity's ex-residence. It left the sky in a colorful glow, the windows reflecting the light like a thousand mirrors. Even when those buildings were nothing more than a fist full of thick sticks pointed towards the sky, Seto could still see the light it made. A few extra lights lit the street around them, preparing for the night to come.

He had not intentionally wanted to come this way, knowing how she felt, but he had ended up coming this way anyway. After a few blocks, it finally occurred to him that even though she didn't want to return home, he had to let her brother know that she wasn't injured somewhere. As little as he might have shown it today, he still had to care for his little sister. And Joey was her guardian, anyway, and responsible for her.

Serenity hadn't looked up the whole time. He would glance at her occasionally to see her counting the cracks in the sidewalk, or doing whatever she was doing. "You know where we're heading, right?" he asked softly. "Even after all of this, you need to tell him what you want to do. It may not seem like it, but he's probably worried for you."

She didn't answer, but continued to put one foot in front of the other. "If you're mad at me, it's your problem." He sounded slightly amused. "You don't have to stay with me." When she still ignored him, he sighed, giving up. The rest of the walk continued in silence.

"Hey, we're there," he said, taking his arm from around her. Putting his hands inside his pockets—they were pretty cold from being out in the wind for so long—he started to walk to the door of the Wheeler residence. He didn't turn around to check if Serenity was following him. Instead, he rang the doorbell.

He was almost about to ring the doorbell once more when the door finally opened a crack. "What do you want?" Joey's voice demanded.

Kaiba mentally shook his head. He hadn't even seen his sister—who had walked to stand behind him. "I don't want anything, Wheeler."

The door opened further, and Joey's now-visible eyes narrowed. "Then what are you here for?"

"I thought you might want to know the whereabouts of your sister." His face remained impassive.

Joey hesitated for a slight second, then said, "She'll come back soon enough when she feels better." Indecision flickered across his eyes.

"That's what you think." Kaiba stepped over so Joey could finally see that his sister was right behind him. "I had to persuade her to come back."

"And she ran to you?" he sneered. "All the way to your precious KaibaCorp? I find that hard to believe from a person like you."

Kaiba's eyes flashed. "Why don't you ask the story from her? I'm sure you'll trust Serenity more than you trust me." He felt a head bury itself in his purple trench coat. "Do you think it's my fault that she came to me and not you?"

"Stop it," a muffled voice said. "Stop it." Kaiba turned around as he felt the pressure removed from his back and saw Serenity's tear streaked face staring at her brother. He followed her gaze to see the uncertain look back in Joey's eyes once more, which slowly became a look of no emotion. After a moment's silent battle, Serenity pulled at Kaiba's sleeve. "I want to go somewhere else," she said.

He looked at her brother once more, then turned around, staring at the darkening sky, a deep indigo and violet gradient. "Fine," he finally said. "You can stay at KaibaCorp for tonight."

They were walking away when they heard a voice behind them. "Hey, Seren, you'll come back sometime, right? I mean, you won't stay away from me forever?"

She stopped. "I will," she said softly. She pulled on his sleeve once more. "Let's go."

* * *

A soft sigh broke the silence in the quiet room. A single shaft of light penetrated the darkness like a fat, glowing rod, casting long shadows on the walls and ceiling. The window was now covered in the heavy curtain that was usually seen as open. A head was bent over the large desk near the center of the room.

Kaiba put his head in his hands. What was he doing here, at this time in the night? No, it was morning, he corrected himself, glancing at the numbers on the bottom corner of his screen. It was fifteen minutes past one. He should have gone home instead.

Of course, though, this was really the only time he could correctly analyze all he had learned about Mokuba's disappearance. The last couple of weeks had been busy, and there was still so much work left to do. If he didn't do it now, he would never have time to do it. How he wished he could skip all of this company work and find Mokuba instead. Though no one fully realized it, he missed Mokuba badly. All he wanted to do was find his brother.

But that wasn't possible. This company wasn't just about him, and neither was his life. He had hundreds of employees to keep employed so they could support their families, and had hundreds of blueprints for new technology for kids—and adults, he admitted—who played duel monsters and other such games. Most of all, this company needed the profit from all of this to keep it happening.

His tired eyes wandered to the girl who had taken his couch for the night. Serenity was nothing more than a shape in the darkness that was illuminated faintly from the lamp on his desk. Lucky girl, allowed to sleep.

The alert of new mail brought his concentration back in line again. He watched the little alert pop up from the corner of the screen, and clicked on it. The sender was hidden, and he wondered who it was.

But he was immediately awake when he saw the subject of the email. Mokuba.

"What is it?" a sleepy voice said from behind him.

The voice momentarily startled him. He turned around to see Serenity's eyes, not yet fully awake, looking over his shoulder at the screen. "Information about Mokuba," she read.

He didn't answer, but clicked the subject instead. The email inside was fairly short.

_"Seto Kaiba:_

_Meet me before the city hall on Christmas Eve, at precisely 8:00 pm. We have your brother."_

There was no name on the bottom, or anything else to have signified who it had come from, only an icon with the crossed blades that Serenity had found on the chip that day that had seemed so long ago. Kaiba scanned over it once more, hoping to find anything he had missed, hidden words in the text, something not in the body of the letter. Nothing. No news is good news, his mind whispered to him.

"Are you going to go?" Serenity asked from behind him.

"Yes," he answered without hesitation.

"That's two weeks away…" Serenity mused quietly. He heard a small gasp. "Oh! Two weeks! I just realized that I haven't even bought all of my friends their presents yet!"

He couldn't help the small smile that crept up to one corner of his mouth, even after the unpleasantness of the news he had gotten. He hadn't bought anything either, since Mokuba wasn't here. A thought from yesterday evening popped up, brought up from that voice mentioning friends, but he pushed it away.

"Well," he said, closing the window and getting ready to turn off the computer. He felt in a much better mood, now that he had found something he was looking for—even though it wasn't the best to hear, it was something, and probably as good as he could hope for—and he still had time to sleep. The anxiousness and doubt hadn't come to his mind, not yet. He would save that for when he woke up tomorrow and had time to analyze through it.

Yet when he tried to fall asleep on an extra bed he had kept in a small room for the purpose of late nights and early mornings, he found the dreaded feelings and thoughts creeping through to him already. Instead, he found himself tossing and turning until the sun's light slowly crept into the room from between the curtains, when he finally fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

So that's it for this chapter…I'm sorry it's shorter, too! But I can't put too much in, or it'll seem like a drag…especially when what's coming up has to be exciting. Well, I hope it wasn't too bad…review, please! Um…constructive criticism on my overall writing would be nice. 


	16. Chapter XVI

Okay, I've got another chapter up! Sometimes, I wonder if I update faster when I have more to do, because of all the pressure to finish everything else…maybe it's just my personality, though.

This chapter is longer than the last two chapters. So for those of you that are picky about that—I won't mention who—hope you're happy! Of course, I'm just joking around…

Anyway. I don't own Yugioh, it characters, or anything of the sort. You know what I mean…

On with Chapter XVI!

* * *

Serenity was waiting worriedly at the window of Joey's house for Kaiba's car to come by. Often, she wished she had never gotten into that argument with him. They would at least be talking instead of just barely able to tolerate each other's presence, and she never would have figured out about that email and wouldn't have made herself participate.

But now she had, so she had no choice but to watch the snow drifting lightly down outside and watch for a pair of headlights coming from the left. She was happy Joey was gone with his friends right now. If he was home, she might have had to explain where she was going. Just the sound of that made her feel at ends. She still didn't feel like explaining things to him. She was on her own now.

There were two specks of lights coming in her direction down the road. She pressed her face closer to the window, hoping that it was Kaiba, but it wasn't. Just before the car reached her block, it turned down another street to disappear.

She gave up standing by the window—it was cold, anyway—and went to sit on the couch instead. However, she did nothing else, not even getting the remote control to turn on the TV and see what was on that would pass the time. Instead, she simply fussed with the ends of her scarf, looped around her neck. It was warm in here, even without her sweater on, but outside, it would be freezing. Watching the clock, she began to tie knots and untie them in an unconscious fashion, simply letting her eyes wander around the room every once in a while.

After five minutes, though, she stood back up to walk to the window once more. Pulling the curtain open a crack, she peered out. Still no car.

It wasn't that she was anxious to get out of the house. The room was pretty warm and cozy, and she'd rather stay inside. Rather, she was worried about her friend, and wanted to make sure he was still okay, or, at least, in no worse condition than he was the last time she had seen him. It was highly unlikely, but it would be better to see him alive than never see him again. She shuddered at the thought and quickly pushed it away.

Another pair of headlights scattered the rest of her dark thoughts. Squinting, she watched as it stopped a block away. It continued forward. It looked slightly like Kaiba's car…yes, it was. Quickly, she gathered her small bag that contained her house keys and other small details, and put on a pair of mittens. Grabbing the keys out of the bag, she walked out the door and locked it.

Kaiba was already waiting for her in his car by the time she made it to the sidewalk. "Do you have what you need?" he asked her as soon as she opened the door.

"Yeah," she answered, carefully getting in so she wouldn't get her scarf caught between the door. He watched her for a moment, then started the motor once more and headed in the direction of the city hall.

* * *

The streets were unimaginably crowded, even for Christmas Eve. Every once in a while, Kaiba would have to stop his car in the middle of the street for some crazy person that would run across the street to get to another store on the other side. Even then, though, all of the people looked so happy. To Serenity, who was in a gloom, all of it seemed so—

"They seem so mocking, don't they?"

Serenity jumped in her seat, startled. "Yeah, they do," she answered quietly. How had he known that was what she had been thinking about?

She heard a click, then rustling and turned around to see him unfolding a piece of paper, a ray of light shining on it. Leaning a bit closer, she peered over his shoulder and looked. It was a copy of the email. "What's that for?"

"Proof. I've kept a copy of everything so far. If they don't keep their word, they're off to court."

"But shouldn't you already be…?"

A bitter grin crossed his lips. "As of now, I have no one to charge, and even if I did, it wouldn't help anyway. Nothing can happen until we get our hands on whoever is behind this." His eyes flickered her way for a brief moment as she opened her mouth and started to say something, then focused on the busy road once more. "What?" he asked bluntly.

"Shouldn't you get help, then?" she asked timidly.

"I have. Last time, at the park, was an example. The only problem is, that doesn't mean we can catch them. They still got away."

A horn honked behind them. Kaiba peered through his rearview mirror, then ignored it. If that was directed towards him, they obviously didn't have their eyes open. "Anyway," he said, continuing, "it's really up to us. Others can only do so much to help, without the resources that we have."

"What resources do you mean?"

"Anything, really. KaibaCorp being my company and not anyone else's. Mokuba, who is my brother. My email, which only I have access to. There's more. But other people can't know enough to help because they aren't a victim."

Serenity didn't say anything. She hadn't really thought of it that way before. Of course, he was right. The only person who could really know anything about what was happening would be him. Even she knew very little. Even if he told her all that he knew, it wouldn't help much. Because she hadn't gotten the information firsthand, she might be receiving it wrong. Intentions always read differently in everyone, unless you specialized in doing so. It was for him to decipher.

There was one thing she felt that he was wrong about, though. "You aren't the victim, Seto. It's everyone around you."

He was quiet for a moment, then said, "No, you're wrong. Why else would they be taking my brother?"

"Even though it's your company, it's not completely directed at you. Everything that they've done has hurt others, which in turn hurts you. Mokuba, your employees, me, and even Joey and his friends," she said softly. "You may not realize it, but I can see it."

"That's enough," he answered curtly. "I don't need you to tell me what to do. You're going too far." She opened her mouth. "Enough, I said."

She closed it and turned to look out the passenger window once more. It wasn't until he said so that she knew she had overstepped her boundaries. But she didn't dwell on it for long. There was no use in doing so. Instead, she let herself get lost in the view outside, where all the lights, people, and glowing decorations were.

Watching the Christmas shoppers, she yearned to be one of them. Over there, a child was begging for something from his mother, probably to get something as a gift. A few stores over, a happy couple was peering in through the window and gazing at a Christmas item on display. On the next block, a river of people were walking in and out of a huge store, over half of them carrying bags full of presents for relatives. Even though she had done her shopping already, it had been done alone. It made her a bit sad to see all of these people so joyful about theirs.

They drove past a park, usually empty, now full of Christmas shoppers taking a break. Young kids ran around in the playground, laughing and enjoying themselves. Their parents sat on the benches, watching carefully to make sure they were safe, bags piled around their feet. Tourists gazed at the bows on the green lit lamp posts, the tinsel hung between them, and the shiny decorated tree in the middle. A small line was gathered beside a small glowing booth—probably for coffee and hot chocolate to chase away the cold.

But as suddenly as she saw the sight, it disappeared. It was replaced by a huge building, rising above them. Few people cared for it, and only came near to walk past it. Even less went in or out. Pillars of cold stone stood like sentries, barring the way. Only the small amount of decorated streetlamps on the sidewalk before it brought any life, and the lights inside the door were somewhat jolly. Serenity looked up to see the words "City Hall" inscribed at the top.

She abruptly realized that the car had stopped. Clambering out, she quickly closed the door behind her and ran after Kaiba. She barely kept up with his brisk steps.

"No, stay in," he commanded with a low voice. "I don't want them to know you're still involved. I'd rather they think you an innocent girl who doesn't know what's going on anymore."

She opened her mouth with a reply to it, but realized what she took as an insult wasn't that bad of a disguise. Turning around, she walked the few steps back to the car.

As soon as she got in, Serenity pressed her face against the windows. There was no problem with that, since it was now dark and the windows were tinted, except she would probably get fingerprints on the glass. She withdrew from the pane temporarily, then wrapped the ends of her scarf around her hands. She resumed her watching once more.

Kaiba was walking up the steps and headed towards the door of the city hall, looking as if he was heading for a business errand there and nothing else. However, when the man dressed in black came out from behind a pillar, the indifference changed. He barely changed his course to head towards the stranger.

Standing quite a distance apart, close enough to talk in low tones but far enough so they could be as far away from each other as they could, they exchanged a few words. Serenity thought of rolling down the window and seeing if she could catch some words—her hearing was still extremely good from the times when her eyes had been all but unusable—but thought better of it; someone might see. Instead, she settled to just watching.

The man smiled behind his shades, but Kaiba didn't react, other than to answer something in reply. It must have stung, because the other man had his mouth open for awhile before answering with an angry look. One hand ventured out of his pocket and made a gesture that looked as if he were trying to gather air in his hand. Kaiba answered again.

The stranger put his hand in the coat pocket once more, only to take it out for the second time. This time, it contained something small and white. He stepped closer held it before the CEO's face, saying something, a sneer on his face. As Kaiba tried to snatch it from him, he pulled it back like a snake, and his foe was unable to grab it.

A few more words were exchanged. The content sneer slowly turned to a look of fustration and anger. Kaiba's face was still stoic and unchanged. Finally, it seemed that the man could not hold it back any longer. He ripped the object in his hands and set it sailing out into the winds. The sneer came back, full of hatred instead of taunt.

The CEO did not chase after it, but Serenity saw his eyes flicker after it, and saw his expression change for just a moment. She followed his gaze and watched the three pieces drifted her way on the chilly winter wind. She watched them fly high into the sky, almost high enough to become no more than mere specks, but they came back down again. One was caught underneath the windshield wipers, while the others floated down underneath the car and made their way to another place on Earth. However, one of them had stuck to the window before it disappeared around the side of the car. She caught a glimpse of what was written on it.

"Mokuba is…the place wh….him. Me…"

Serenity was desperate to grab the paper still stuck under the wiper, but knew she would be seen if she did. Instead, she committed to memory what she had just seen, and turned her gaze back to the exchange of words happening mere yards before her. Kaiba's gaze caught hers, and she knew he had been watching the scraps, too. His eyes then turned back to the man before him, and he gave no indication he knew she was there.

A few more words were exchanged, but Serenity did not watch them anymore. Instead, she fixed her gaze on the one scrap of paper before her. It wasn't for a while unto she realized that the wind had firmly lodged it under the wiper, and it would not be able to escape unless an unusually strong wind blew under it.

She pulled open the glove compartment and dug inside for a blank piece of paper and a pen. She found the writing device in a few seconds, as it was put in front of everything else inside, but it took a little longer to find something she knew she wouldn't get in trouble for writing on. It was a small notepad with lined paper. Tearing a piece off, she used the pad as a surface and copied down the words she had seen as close to exactly the same as she had observed it as possible. She even drew a jagged line down the page, indicating where the paper had been torn. She checked it once, making sure she didn't forget anything. At least she wouldn't have to worry about forgetting it now.

Footsteps coming towards her made her look up. It was Kaiba. She quickly put the cap back on the pen and dropped it and the notepad back where she had found them. A shadow momentarily fell over her—he was picking up the paper on his windshield—and disappeared as she closed the compartment once more. She looked up just as the door opened.

"What are you doing digging through my stuff?" he asked, not bothering to look at her as he closed the door and took out his keys.

"I was getting a piece of paper and a pen," she answered.

She expected him to start the engine, but he simply sat there with the keys cradled limply in his hands. He jingled them in his hands a few times, then glanced down at them. Serenity followed his gaze to see the paper he had picked up. "What's written on there?" she questioned.

He smoothed out the wrinkles and creases from the paper, and turned it around so he could read it. Serenity peered over his shoulder. "I don't know. A part of a message, perhaps."

She offered her small slip of paper to him. "One that would be connected to this?"

He looked at it for a merest second, then put his piece on top of hers, where the lines seemed to match up. They fit. "Mokuba is at…something…the place where we…something…him. Meet me at…something," he read. He simply considered it for a moment, then turned to her. "Where did you get that from?"

"The paper got caught on the window for a moment, when the wind was pushing it against the window. This was what I was able to read before it disappeared."

"Nothing else?"

She shook her head. He put the paper in her hands, and put his keys to use. "Well, keep them for now. We'll discuss this somewhere else."

Serenity glanced at the numbers that had popped up on the small screen between them, where she had once made a fuss about the radio. It was nearing 9:30. "Today?"

"I don't know," he said, preoccupied with driving. "Do you want to discuss this today, or some other day?"

He left the words hanging in the air. She knew what was unspoken was reference to her uneasy terms with her brother. She hesitated.

"Well?" he asked.

"Um…well, Joey said he wouldn't get back until really late, around eleven or so, but…I think it's best for me to go home now." Her eyes made her way to her hands clasped on her lap before her.

"Do you really still let him control your life like that? I thought you had let that go."

The remark stung. "He's still my brother," she said stiffly.

"So?"

She chose not to answer. He wouldn't understand, even if he was her closest friend now.

* * *

She was almost asleep by the time they made it to her home. She didn't even realize that the car had stopped until the small light overhead brightened when Kaiba opened the door. Yawning, she made her way out, still holding the paper.

"I'll take that," he said, reaching for them.

She handed them over. They were of no use to her, anyway, for now. Digging through her small bag for her keys, she made her way to the door. It wasn't until she had put the key in the lock when she remembered something.

Quickly looking behind her, she saw Kaiba getting into his car. Not even bothering to take the key out of the doorknob, she ran over to the car. She knocked on the passenger's window a few times.

The window rolled down. "What?" he asked.

"Can—Can you wait a minute? I forgot before, but I wanted to give you something." She felt her face heat up in embarrassment.

He nodded. Not waiting a second more, Serenity raced to the door and quickly unlocked it. Taking the key with her this time, she left the door ajar and made her way to her bedroom as fast as she could. She didn't bother to turn on the lights or take off her shoes, but simply ran to her closet and opened it, blindly reaching inside for something inside. Her hands felt jackets and hangers, and finally felt a bundle wrapped in paper. Pulling it out, she closed the closet and made her way back outside once more.

His window was still open, letting in some of the snow that had started to drift down. "Here," she said, maneuvering it inside the car.

He didn't take it. However, he asked, "What is it?"

That was a pretty reasonable question to ask. In the poor light, it looked like a bundle of paper from a previous Christmas gift event, left as trash, but smoothed out to be reused. However, a pretty ribbon had been tied around and made into a decent bow. A tag hung off it.

"It's for you. Open it," she said, smiling shyly.

He stared at it for a moment longer, then gave in and took it. With more light shining on it, it looked more like a bundle was hidden inside, and not anywhere as sloppy. "Now?" he asked. She nodded, putting her hands on the top of the window and sticking her head in.

Slowly pulling the ends of the ribbon, he untied it and set it aside, on the seat where Serenity had just been sitting in a few minutes ago. He turned it around, looking for a place to open the wrapping paper. She laughed softly. "You don't have to save the wrapping paper," she said. "Just rip it."

However, he didn't. He slid a hand under the wrapping paper and slowly pulled off the tape, one piece at a time. There was not one tear in the paper that hadn't been there before. The paper fell on his lap.

The surprise was evident on his face when he unraveled his gift. White cascaded down from his hands to form a curtain that fell on his knees in a pile. A deep maroon was in the shadows, visible through a slit between the two layers that had been formed as he held it up. Tears and holes were all over it, making it look as if it had seen terrible things.

Indeed, it had. It was his trenchcoat, from the day of the accident so long ago.

"Why do you give this back to me?" he asked softly, lightly smoothing away a crease on the logo KC.

Serenity smiled. "It's not mine. I couldn't keep it. Anyway, I didn't know what else I could possibly give you for the holidays. You probably have all that you want. All that can be bought with money, that is," she added softly, her expression becoming more reserved.

He stared at it a moment longer, then proceeded to fold it neatly to fit on the seat beside him. "I never really thought I would see that old thing again," he said, shaking his head.

"Well, the best gifts are surprises, right?" The smile lit up her face once more. Her infectious mood spread to him, and he couldn't help but laugh at her. She could just imagine how she looked, with the snow that had slowly collected in her hair and on her clothes, making damp patches all over her. Her laughter soon joined his.

The flickering of the streetlight above them made her look up, and as she did, she suddenly noticed how cold she was getting standing outside in near-freezing weather. "I should make my way home soon," Serenity said, straightening up and facing her front door. The door was still open, and snow had made a small, thin carpet inside.

"And clean up a bit," Seto's voice added. She turned back to face him.

"I'm sorry, Serenity, that I didn't get you a gift," he said awkwardly after a bit of silence.

She shook her head in reply. "No, it's fine. Your kindness has been enough."

"If you say." He glanced at the trenchcoat once more, then back at her. "Good night, Serenity," he said softly.

"Good night, Seto," she said in reply. She stayed there until he had disappeared into the black of the night.

* * *

As always, reviews are welcome! 


	17. Chapter XVII

Another update! I know I'm slow, but finals are here. And there's a bunch of other stuff I try to do every day, too, so it's do this thing one day, this the next, and so on. I'm not forgetting about it though, don't worry…

Okay. I don't own Yugioh…or anything else you know I don't own. There you have it.

On with Chapter XVII!

* * *

Weeks had passed since the meeting and the torn message. Christmas and New Year's had flown by in a flurry of snow and wind. School had started once more, a toil and weight in many minds that was wished to have never come, a wish that there was another free week of fun and play. However, it was not so. 

Even out of school, Serenity felt it was the same. She had continued to balance chores, working things out with her brother, homework, and helping Kaiba. There was little time left to follow her hobbies of drawing and writing. But that wasn't it. It seemed these days that she was constantly under pressure about helping her friend. Her brother and friends still seemed to be at odds with her, and she didn't have much time to make it up to them like she wanted. Kaiba felt that there was a possibility that she had been seen and recognized, and had kept her from following him after school hours most of the time. It was safer this way, he had said.

But today was a day to let herself free from all of these worries. It was Saturday, and she was free of a huge load of homework that she usually had. She had been assigned little in the beginning, and the rest was simple, so she had finished her homework yesterday. There were no projects, either. And the forensics and speech club seemed to have become a place of turmoil, so it was all fighting and little work to be done. It felt good.

Serenity was at her desk since the early morning hours. She was in a habit of waking up around six o'clock, even if it wasn't a school day, so she had sat at her desk and doodled away the hour until her brother woke up and started breakfast. However, after breakfast, her interest had become a full effort to make a masterpiece.

She pushed herself away from her sketch, squinting her eyes. The puppy that she had drawn was resting its head in its paws, staring mournfully at the observer. The collar was bothering her…

Of course. It was too far from the puppy's head and almost down to its shoulders. She erased the light lines quickly and looked over the picture once more to get an idea of where the correct place was to sketch it, and drew a quick curve of the general idea of where it was to be. That looked right.

She continued to sketch away the remainder of the morning. By the time she had finished the basic sketch, it was almost ten o'clock. She didn't really want to polish it just yet. Her skills were at their best when she did a little each day, instead of all of it at once.

Pushing herself away from her desk, she stretched and decided to change out of her pajamas. If she didn't do so now, she probably wouldn't do it for the rest of the day…

* * *

Kaiba was at his office again, on Saturday morning. He had been there since eight to finish a bit of his work that he hadn't been able to complete yesterday. That business deal hadn't been worth his time. If it wasn't for the three-hour long meeting, he could be at home right now, and relaxing. Which he rarely got to do these days. 

Well, actually, that wasn't true. He needed to stop by the city's police center and check if they had found anything about Mokuba yet. So far, little had been found about him and his kidnappers' whereabouts. But if never hurt to check.

He quickly finished an email to a business associate, and proceeded to check a few statistics and other pieces of information that would be important to Kaiba Corp in the long run. Nothing much had changed since yesterday; he had little to worry about.

The last thing he did before turning off the computer and getting out of his office was to check the time. 11:30.

And his email.

Nothing.

* * *

Walking down the street from her house, Serenity breathed in the cool January air. Though it was still very early, she thought she could detect the scent of spring flowers slowly making its way into the city. The sun that glowed faintly behind the blanket of thin clouds of early afternoon gave a soft light to the bare branches and bushes, and for a moment, the water that had collected on various plants and structures twinkled with a mirage of crystal flowers. Little bits of plants peeked out from the snow, some with a promise of green leaves and buds. Spring was so close, yet so far, she thought. 

Clutching her shoulder bag to her, she gazed up into the sky. Clouds glided across with varying speeds, making so many different patterns above her. It was so pretty, even when most of it was so gray. She imagined she could see the sun and blue sky just beyond it.

Before she knew it, she was out of the neighborhood streets and on the busy roads. She walked the short distance to the bus stop and waited for a trip to the library near the other side of town.

As she stood there, she studied the people around her. She always thought it was fun to do so, and to guess what type of person they were. Across the street, a man was striding purposefully across the sidewalk, his long legs covering the ground quickly. He looked like a busy sort of person, but the way he held himself seemed to say that he was proud and happy with his life. She guessed he had a happy family. A woman walked past him, and Serenity turned her attention to her. She was walking at a normal pace, much slower than the man; her head kept moving around, as if to see everything. She must be a tourist. Serenity's eyes then switched over to her left, as cars blurred the sidewalk on the other side. An elderly couple was making its way towards the bus stop. As she watched them, the woman helping the struggling man past the bus stop, she could tell that they loved each other a lot, even with all of the troubles they must have. But the sad air around them told of something missing. She guessed that the hole in their life was children.

As they disappeared into the crowd, someone caught her eye. He was dressed in dark colors, a long coat trailing behind him. Sunglasses covered his eyes, even though the sun was behind him. Serenity was immediately alert. He was dressed similarly like the men that Kaiba had talked to, though he seemed to be in older clothes that weren't kept as nicely.

She quickly averted her gaze, not wanting to be caught staring. He seemed dangerous. However, she saw another man crossing the street towards her, dressed in the same shades of color, also wearing sunglasses. Her eyes widened. Surely they weren't looking for her? She turned around and walked to the back of the small crowd that was waiting for the bus.

She peeked between the people before her. The two men met a short distance away from the crowd—no more than five feet—and bent their heads together to whisper. She cringed away once more, keeping an eye on them. As she watched, they broke the conversation and joined the crowd.

The sound of a bus coming towards them made her look up for a second. Good. This was the bus she was taking. Maybe she could get away from them. The bus seemed pretty crowded; she would just have to find a way to get in before it was full.

As the bus rolled to a stop before her, she skirted the crowd in the opposite direction of the two men and weaved her way in. She dropped her fee in quickly, which was already in her hand.

Quickly, she scanned the bus for an empty seat. There was one near the back, a double seat that had one person in it. She made her way there as fast as she could, and asked, "Can I sit here?"

The man looked up and nodded, not bothering to answer otherwise. He immediately went back to listening to his music on his earphones. She slid in, clutching her back to her, and let her breath out quietly. She hadn't even known she had been holding it.

Serenity looked up when she felt someone stand beside her. Her breath caught. It was one of those men…As she quickly scanned the bus, she saw the other man sitting before her. And just before the bus pulled away, another man ran in, looking just like the other two.

* * *

Kaiba had finally gotten out of the police station. They had found nothing. Earlier, he had eaten a small lunch at one of the little restaurants near his office. It wasn't till after then that he had checked on any information on Mokuba. If they found something extremely important, they would call. That half hour had given them a bit more time to find something. 

Now, his afternoon was pretty much free. It felt good, but he was a bit at loss for what to do. Usually, any free time was spent on catching up on projects, and recently, trying to get his hands on anything about his brother's disappearance. However, he had already done all his mind could think of, and there was not much else to do. He would have to wait until later to check again, or for his mind to think of something else.

He was still pondering what to do, and had just gotten in his car, when his cell phone rang. He picked it up and saw a number he didn't recognize. Well, why not see what it was, anyway?

"Hello?" he said.

* * *

The bus had taken two stops so far since Serenity and the three men had gotten on. One of them had occupied a seat near the front when someone else had left, but he could plainly see her, even if he acted like he didn't see anything but the window and heads before him. The other seats that had been vacated had been near the front, too, and new passengers had gotten on. 

The bus slowly drew to a stop once more. "Excuse me," said the man that had sat beside her. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed when he had stood up and gathered his things. She hastily moved her legs over the side to let him through, and accidentally hit the man standing on the other side.

She froze as she suddenly realized that she should get off this bus, leave it and take the next one. That man…he would want the empty seat. But by the time she was able to move again, the bus was already in motion. "Can I sit here?" he asked pleasantly.

For a moment, she was indecisive. She didn't want him sitting there, but she couldn't just say "no". He would be suspicious. She nodded, the motion barely perceptible.

He moved to the inside seat, thankfully. At least she had a way out. But before she can think of any more, he said, "Why, you're a pleasant young lady. Where are you heading for today?"

She stiffened. "N—None of your business," she answered. She didn't have to have an excuse for not telling a stranger where she was going.

But instead of stopping him from talking to her, it only encouraged him. "A friend's house, perhaps? Or the library?" He pointed to the corner of a book, barely visible inside her bag.

"M—Maybe," she said, uncertain. Why hadn't she hidden it better? More important, who was this man? Why was he so interested in her?

"Well, it happens my stop is at the center of knowledge, too. Tell me, what do you often like to read there?" His voice was a lazy drawl, seemingly unimportant. But something warned Serenity of danger.

She examined the bus, pretending not to hear. The man in the front quickly averted his eyes when he saw her looking, acting as if he had been staring out the window the whole time. He had been watching, she was sure. The man in sitting in the seat directly in front of her seemed not to be interested either—in fact, he was on a cell phone—but she doubted there was really someone on it. He shouldn't have been able to hear much on such a loud bus.

"Fantasy, mystery? Or perhaps romance?"

The rest of the bus seemed oblivious to the presence of the three men scattered about the bus in almost identical outfits. Didn't they seem suspicious? Why did no one else notice?

He tapped at her bag on her lap, and she couldn't help but to jump in violent surprise. "May I see that book?"

She carefully let out her breath, scared even more, now. "Of—Of course," she stuttered, taking it out and handing it to him. However, she also took out her cell phone.

He didn't seem interested in the book anymore. "Who are you calling?"

She didn't have to pretend to be embarrassed. "Um, I'm just calling…my brother. To let him know I'll be at the library," she lied, hoping that he couldn't hear the lie in her voice as obviously as it sounded to her. "Please excuse me."

He simply nodded, and thumbed through the book. She took the opportunity to quickly turn off the screen light, and then dialed the number, careful to not let anyone see what she typed. Taking a breath to calm herself, she sent the call.

"_Hello?"_ A man's voice was heard over the line.

The man sitting beside her, thumbing through the pages after reading the summary, looked up sharply.

"_Um, hey, big brother!"_ Kaiba heard_. "I just forgot to tell you I was going to the library…I hope you aren't worrying right now."_

"Serenity? You're--" _talking to the wrong person_, he was going to say.

"_I needed to return a book,"_ she said.

Play along, her voice pleaded. There was something dangerous going on. "Are you taking the bus?"

"What?" Serenity asked, straining to hear. The bus was too loud. The man beside her had suspicion lying plainly in his eyes. She nervously smiled back at him.

"_I asked, are you taking the bus?" _

"Oh, yeah, I am. I was planning to spend awhile there, and I knew you would a bit bored there, so I didn't want to bother you." The man had finally looked back down at the book. It eased her heart just a bit.

A sigh came over the line. _"I thought you remembered what I told you about being alone in public. You know, since you got mixed up with him in the whole deal."_

He desperately hoped she knew that he understood the predicament she was in, and not simply talking in a careless manner. "You should have at least told me first…" He searched for the name he always heard her brother calling her by. "…Seren."

She didn't answer for awhile. Trust me, he thought desperately. The answer finally came. _"I'm sorry."_

"Well, at least tell me where you are now. And when do you plan on coming back?"

Serenity spared a quick glance at the three men. The one in the front was watching closely, and the man in front wasn't speaking anymore. The one beside her was still flipping the pages, but he didn't seem to be interested in that anymore. The first was sent to spy with his eyes, the second with his ears—that cell phone might be a recording device in disguise—and the third to make sure she cooperated; she was sure now. "I'll be back in an hour and a half," she said quietly, hoping desperately that they couldn't hear. "And I'm on Fifth. We just passed the stop near my school." Her voice dropped even more.

"Speak up, I can't hear you," Kaiba said, stopping his car with a violent jolt before he passed a red light. He cursed under his breath. Talking on the phone in a situation like this and driving was not a good idea at all. But what else could he do?

The voice spoke up clearer this time, as if nothing had happened. _"Fifth. By the school."_

"Yours?" he asked. Well, he had an idea of where to go now. Just maybe, he could get her off the bus and out of there. As the light turned green, he stepped on the accelerator and immediately shifted lanes.

"_Yeah."_

Damn it all, this was all too complicated. "Well, I'm near by anyway…I just left to drop off mail at the post office not too long ago," he improvised, wincing a bit at how stupid it sounded. "Do you want a ride?"

The end of what he said sounded so unlike Joey that she could not stop from looking at the men once more to see if they had a reaction. Of course, they didn't, or at least they didn't show it; no one really knew of the feelings between Joey and her. "Um…no, it's okay."

So there was definitely something wrong. Someone was on that bus, or several someone's. "Well, okay then. Talk to you later, alright?"

"Alright," she answered, not bothering to hide the tremor in her voice. She was scared, and all of them knew it.

* * *

Kaiba flipped his phone shut and tossed it onto the passenger seat. As quickly as he could, he made his way towards the school and turned towards the library near by. Knowing which stop she would use—if she didn't, anyway, he could go ahead to the next stop—he took a parking spot on the street lying perpendicular to it and waited for the bus to come. 

Soon enough, it came. He watched with a hawk's eye to see who would come off of it. There were a few people, nothing suspicious about them. And then Serenity appeared.

For a moment, it seemed as if no one else was there. But just as he thought that, three men followed her down. And as the bus drew away, he saw the four part their ways. One of them followed the girl.

* * *

As soon as the bus reached the stop, Serenity immediately took her book back and escaped as soon as she could. Hoping to loose them in the crowd, she clutched her bag to her and walked quickly in the thin throngs of people. As she waited to cross the street with a few other pedestrians, she spared a glance behind her. 

The people around her began moving once more, and she was unable to see clearly if they were still following. That could wait, though. Right now, she needed to cross the street and make her way to the library.

She walked without looking at anything around her, which she usually did. The fear was still lodged in the pit of her stomach, and nothing she did could remove it. She knew that it was bad for her to stay tensed up for so long; her muscles would complain later, and she was actually walking slower. But she couldn't help it.

At the next intersection, she turned the corner and saw the library just to her left. This time, she spared a glance behind her. The men seemed to have disappeared—no, wait, the one that had sat next to her was still there. The other two were nowhere to be found. They had gone back to where ever they had come from, she thought, and figured out one person was enough to do whatever they needed to do. And they were probably right, she convinced herself.

But now, something else was also following her. As she turned around and resumed her trip, she heard the slow drone of a car not too far behind her. She had thought someone was following her before, but with the street so busy and loud, it was impossible to tell. However, here, were there were very few cars, she was almost certain she had another stalker.

Too scared to look behind her and see a face that would make her panic even more, she sped up and made her way to the library. In the end, just a few feet away from the parking lot entrance, she found herself running, her breath ragged. And she did not stop running until her hand touched the handle of the entrance to her destination.

* * *

Kaiba stayed in his parking spot until he was sure that one of the men in the matching attire was the only one following her, then kicked up his engine and waited for them to disappear a bit. Minutes later, he was creeping after them and watching. 

Sure enough, she looked back and saw the car. Seeing the action, the man also did so. As he did, Kaiba quickly sped up the speed a notch as to look inconspicuous. Luckily, a car passed by him and blocked the man's view. When he was visible again, he was watching the girl again.

And the game continued as the chase made its way to the library. Serenity would try something, and the man behind her would react. And it became a chain reaction, and he would follow.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, he lost sight of both of them in the parking lot. Quickly finding a spot as close as he could to the library, he killed the engine and got out, close to slamming the door behind him. His strides covered the ground in large strides as he made his way to the entrance. He came just in time to see the man tuck a pair of sunglasses into his pocket and make his way in.

Cursing silently, Kaiba followed him in.

* * *

So, do you like it? The bus scene was written that way for a purpose; sorry if it was confusing. I wanted to make it like the scenes in the movie, where it's one person, and then it suddenly switches to another person. Too many breaks would look weird, so…yeah. And there's already a billion in this chapter...oh, yeah, and if something doesn't make sense, I probably left out a break. Whoops...

Well, hope it wasn't too bad…review, please!


	18. Chapter XVIII

Ah, it feels so good that finals are over…more time for what I want to do! So, as you see, I've finished another chapter of fanfiction. This update didn't take me as long as usual…I think…so I hope you're all happy.

And I've just realized that I put in the first chapter that I would put the pairings in somewhere…it's time to introduce at least one, no? Lots of it will be coming soon!

Anyway, that should be adequate enough to tell you a bit of what the next chapter will contain, much less this one. So, other than saying I don't own Yugioh…without further ado, here is Chapter XVIII!

* * *

Serenity peeked between the books before her, sneaking a look to see if the man was on the other side of the shelf. Ever since she had come in, he had followed her. No matter what section she was in—the shelf of new books, fantasy, classical literature, even romance—the man had somehow followed her. She would think herself rid of him, and suddenly, he would be there. Just as he was now, pretending to be interested in whatever book he was looking through.

She knew that he occasionally sneaked glances at her, too. She would pretend to be looking through the books on the other side of the aisle, and would feel someone's gaze on her. His, nonetheless. She hated it, and wanted to get rid of it badly.

She had several options. She could go to one of the librarians, and report it to them. However, they probably wouldn't believe her, or else the man would do something in return later that she definitely didn't want on her head. Of course, she could get out of the library and hitch the next bus back home. But there was always a chance that the other two men were outside, and it was safer among people than outside, alone, where people wouldn't hear.

Switching to the next aisle, she cursed her doubts. If only it weren't for them, she'd be out of this mess. But even that thought couldn't make her go anywhere. She was stuck inside, until something or the other happened. She dreaded to find out what that would be.

Well, on the positive side, at least nothing was happening now. She was probably panicking too much right now; maybe enjoying this visit among the books would be better right now. Of course, she would still keep her wits about her.

Serenity continued to wander about the shelves, but this time, she actually looked at what was before her.

* * *

As soon as Kaiba walked into the library, he felt at a loss for what to do. He never visited the library; he was always busy doing work to read. Reading was finally opening a book he had bought almost a year ago. He had enough to read as it was, he didn't need to come here to find something.

But where was Serenity? He didn't know this place at all. Not that it really mattered. Even if he did, he wouldn't know where to start searching. He had no idea at all what she read.

There was really no choice left to him, though. It was better to at least look than stand around and have other people looking at _him_. It wasn't everyday you saw some CEO of a gaming company just standing in a library.

The signs hanging from the ceiling were a bit of help. She probably wouldn't be in the nonfiction section, especially to get some book to read in her spare time. He would check there later. Maybe she would be looking around in the fantasy and science fiction books—a girl like her with her head in the clouds would probably read something like that.

He walked briskly in that direction, and peered down the rows. Knowing that people would find that odd, he acted as if he was looking for something to read. Actually, he didn't pick up any books. Looking was enough. He mentally chided himself for not leaving his trenchcoat in his car. He was still suspicious looking in it.

As that section of the library was small, he got through it quickly. Where else? Mystery, maybe? Romance? Horror? He highly doubted the last one. But he checked all of them anyway. Nothing.

He was just about to check the non-fiction section when he spotted a familiar person waiting in line to check out a book. His eyes flickered back once more. He couldn't have mistaken the bright hair…yes, it was her. She was clutching the book to her and digging through her bag with her other hand.

Kaiba sighed inwardly with relief. At least he knew where she was now. And that had saved him the time of looking in the nonfiction section that was composed of over half the library. But where was the man? He was still in here, he knew it.

With a bit more looking, he picked up the figure of someone looking at a shelf that was in plain view of those at the checkout. He was still wearing the dark suit, though his sunglasses were off like he had observed before. It was him, waiting for her.

Moving unobtrusively, he made his way back out to wait for one of them to appear once more. Spotting a bench, he chose to sit down. What difference would it make? At least his legs would be happier.

* * *

Serenity stood waiting anxiously in line. There had been no use staying there any longer, so she decided to go check out her book. As of now, the man was checking books on a different shelf, his back to her. Or at least, he was pretending to. Maybe he would stay there a second too long, and then she would be able to run away before he knew it, and just maybe, she'd be able to catch a bus before he could…

Her desperate dreaming was cut short by a kind voice. "Excuse me? Miss, you can check out your books here."

An embarrassed flush spread over her cheeks. She quickly walked over and placed the book on the counter, digging through her bag for her library card. She presented it in a knot of nerves.

The woman acted as if she didn't notice as she checked her record, but Serenity saw the corner of her mouth quirk up a bit. It only made her feel even worse, even though she knew that the lady was only trying to be friendly.

"The book is due in three weeks, on February the third," she said, offering the book, with the library card and a receipt on top, back to her.

"Thank you," Serenity mumbled, taking them and stuffing them in her bag. With a quick glance, she saw the man just picking up another book. There was still a chance…

But as she walked out and looked behind her, she saw him following. No, he couldn't catch her, she wouldn't let him. She blindly turned around and ran towards the parking lot.

Which was why she didn't see anyone in front of her until she ran into him.

* * *

The wind was knocked out of Kaiba's lungs for just a second. He had seen her walk out of the building, and had intended to go over and ask her if she was alright; maybe even give her a ride back home. Oddly enough, though, she had not seen his lonely figure coming towards her before she turned around, and had crashed into him.

Seeing that she was about to panic even more, he gently but firmly took a hold of her shoulders. "Serenity. It's okay. It's just me. Seto."

He saw a bewildered and wild look in her eyes, and couldn't help but laugh a little inside. Even for all of her innocent ways, there was something charming about her. It was odd to see so much of his younger brother's personality reflected there…

However, that all changed in a matter of seconds. The man was striding towards them with purpose, not hesitant anymore to make himself known for who he was.

Kaiba immediately stood in front of Serenity and pushed her behind him. His eyes hardened, and his mouth became a grim line, but he said nothing. He simply waited for him to approach and say what it was he wanted.

"Greetings, Seto Kaiba. I never thought to find you at a public library. A very awkward place to find the likes of you." His face twisted into a mask of a cruel smile.

"What the hell do you want?" Kaiba asked levelly. "Say what you want, and be gone. I don't have time to waste on the likes of _you_."

"Oh, I just want an answer. One that Mr.—um, my employer wants. None of us want to take desperate measures, not unless we have to." An evil glint went through Serenity, and she quickly hid behind Kaiba.

"What difference does an answer make? All that you and your employers seek to do is take desperate measures. Filth like you aren't worth answering."

"So you'll leave Mokuba to his fate? Well, well, that will be an easy answer—"

"No!" Kaiba growled dangerously, hearing the girl behind him gasp in fright. "Never will I do such a thing!" Eyes flashing daggers of blue fire, he threw the other man into the wall by his throat. "Never!"

The man was quickly turning pale, clawing at the hand that was slowly strangling the air from his lungs. "Let—let—" His voice was strained as he tried to beg for mercy, and he gurgled out uncomprehensible words.

"No! Seto, don't!" a voice cried from behind him. It made him freeze just for a second, and he turned around, loosening his grip just a bit. But that was enough to let the man escape. With a curse, he lunged after the man, intending to catch him by the collar, but he missed by less than an inch. He watched furiously as the man fled.

He turned around sharply to look down at her. "Why did you do that?" His voice dropped in anger. "I almost got him!"

Her eyes darted in fright. "No, you almost killed him! Did you see what you were doing?"

"Yes, I did. Of course I did! We could have turned him over to the police and had him interrogated!"

Serenity opened her mouth to answer, but no words would come out. Oh, how foolish she was! She really was just a hindrance to him, after all.

He must have seen the embarrassment and shame that overcame her, because him expression immediately softened. "Well, there's no use getting riled over it now. He's gone, and there's nothing we can do about it." He gazed over her head at nothing, then felt in his sleeve for something.

It was a piece of paper, folded over several times. The man probably put it in his sleeve when he was being strangled, trying to explain when no words would come out, but she didn't ask. She didn't inquire what was on the slip, either. In a few seconds, it made its way to a pocket.

"Do you want a ride home?" he asked.

"Um…okay," she mumbled. Her eyes flickered up to his for a moment, then looked away once more.

He did not move away for awhile, and she felt his gaze lingering on her head. It seemed like forever until he finally turned on his heel and started towards the parking lot.

However, she did not follow him. She stayed where she was, still clutching her bag to her. "Serenity, are you coming?" he asked from where he had turned around.

She didn't appear to hear him. "Wait!" she called out suddenly, facing him. He did not move. "Can—can you drop me off at the park first? I…I don't…I don't want to go home yet," she said softly.

He did nothing but nod, and headed towards his car once more. She slowly dragged herself after him.

* * *

The park was relatively empty by the time they arrived, late in the afternoon. Most of the crowd had gone back home to prepare for the evening. Many people were rushing around the park, eager to join their families at home. None of them ventured in.

Serenity let the feeling of the sun's dying light warm her face, and the gentle breeze blowing through taking away her troubling thoughts as she sat on a bench. Seto was sitting next to her, lost in his own world; for some reason, he had volunteered to stay instead of heading back home.

She looked at him, brushing the stray strands of hair from her face. His friendship was something that still surprised her, every once in awhile. From far off, he had seemed indifferent to everything around him and incapable of letting in emotion. With her brother's and friend's added notes, he seemed even more so, no better of a person to be around than a stone wall. But there really was much more in him than what everyone said. He had accepted her for who she was instead of shunning her innocent and shy ways. And after that, even though she had done so little for him, he had done so much to help her. Even now, after ruining his whole chance of being with his brother again, he didn't make her go away. Instead, he had let her stay and had even chosen to stay around her awhile longer. She didn't know anyone else who would do that without an angry word turned towards her. Even her brother did that sometimes.

As a stronger gust of wind blew through the park, his hair blew away from his forehead, showing the slight lines of tension that rested there. His expression was troubled and distant. He didn't even seem to realize her studying him. When the wind died down, his hair settled oddly before his eyes, but he didn't bother to brush it back to normal. He was too absorbed in his thoughts, tense.

Her heart softened, and she let her hand rest on his arm. "Seto, you shouldn't blame it on yourself. It's not your fault. You couldn't have known, or prevented it."

He did not answer at first, but simply gazed out at the darkening sky. Finally, he answered, his voice low and soft. "Is it?" He didn't agree with her, she could tell, but he did not voice it out loud.

Serenity looked down at her feet, trying to find the right words. "Well, how could you have done anything about it? I mean, you must feel really bad that you couldn't do anything before, but…It's just like you said earlier. It's done, and there's nothing we can do about the past." She looked back up at him.

A ghost of a smile passed over his face briefly. "I know. But I can't just forget it and go on. Not something like this."

It was getting chilly. She should have worn a thicker jacket…Shifting a bit, she put her hand under her thigh to keep it from getting any colder, and huddled deeper into her clothing. "Why…why do you hold it against yourself so strongly?" she dared to ask.

She saw the turmoil that immediately went through him at the sight of his eyes, and regretted it. "I'm sorry—I didn't mean to—"

He shook his head. "No, it's okay. I guess I should tell this to someone before I can't hold it back any longer. Before I spill it out to someone I can't be sure I can trust."

As the full meaning of the words dawned on her, she was stunned. Did he really trust her? Her, the girl that had barely done anything…?

But before she could think more about it, he started to speak once more. "I'm not sure I know how to explain it. I mean, it's just a turmoil of feelings inside of me; I can't really put it into words. Mokuba's always depended on me, I guess, and now I wonder if he still will, and if he does, if he really should. I've let him down so many times now, that it seems that I'm not the right person to raise him. I probably never was. But even though I know that, some part of me feels like…I don't know, that I'll loose him. If I let someone else do it, then he won't think of me as the big brother that cared for him. If he wants to stay with me, though, will I let him down again? I've already let him down too many times. Someday, he won't trust me anymore, won't he?

"I'm the only one he's trusted his life with for so long, I've taken it for granted. I never thought that I could loose him so easily. It's like…I don't know. Like the air around us. We know it's there, and we don't think that much of it. It'll always be there, right? But what if, one day, it's suddenly taken from us? We'll know it's there, just in our reach, but we'll be unable to reach it. And it won't be the fault of the air, or whatever took it from us. Because whatever took it was probably caused by the one who suffers the loss.

"I wonder if I'll ever be able to tell Mokuba how much he means to me, before I loose that chance. He's right there before me, but…I can't just give up everything, right? If I do, what use would it be? We wouldn't be able to get through life with no money to sustain us. So my choice is to leave him there, I guess, yet does that mean leaving him? I don't want leave him without telling him all of it, yet…it might be too late now. If only I could turn back time, if only there was a way to make everything right. Life would be so much easier, wouldn't it?"

He fell silent, staring out once more into a place unknown to all but him. Serenity dropped her hand to cover his, her heart heavy. How could he hold so much of it inside him for so long? She hadn't even begun to guess how vast his worries were.

Yet, the whole time, he hadn't really been explaining that. He had been explaining himself, she realized. He had been trying to unravel all that was tied up and hidden inside of him, trying to sort it all out. Had he even said it for her to hear, or to find himself? Did that matter?

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "You don't have to bear all of it yourself, Seto. That's what friends are for."

She felt his gaze on the top of her head. "Thanks for listening," he said softly.

Serenity watched as the wind blew through the bare branches of the trees, bending down to brush the grass lightly, and coming back up to dance through the emptiness before the sun's dying light. She closed her eyes and heard it whispering softly around them, making its carefree journey. Someday, not too far away, it would bring the spring with all of its full beauty and splendor, the colors and the life that came with it. It would continue in an endless cycle, changing from spring to summer, summer to autumn, autumn to winter, and winter to spring once more. Would anyone appreciate it for what it was, though, with all of its changes and individuality? He was right. Everyone was taking too much for granted in this little world, where everything was one thing or the other. Black, or white. "No, I should be thanking you. For all you've told me…I never realized."

She looked up when she heard him laugh. "Most of it, I've just realized myself. So I guess we're even, huh?"

"I guess." She let her head rest on his shoulder once more, closing her eyes once more to cherish this one moment. And as she did, she felt an arm come around her shoulders and pull her close, keeping her warm against the winter's late cold.

* * *

So, how do you like it? I hope the second half is cute enough…

Hopefully, I'll get the next chapter up before Valentine's Day. All I need is a bit of encouragement, I think…that's a hint.

Review, please!


	19. Chapter XIX

Yay! I finished my chapter just in time for Valentine's Day. You probably have no idea how happy I am that I could finish it before I wanted to and not after…like usual.

Well, let's leave this intro short. I don't own Yugioh, like always…

* * *

"Hey, Yugi," Tea said brightly as he opened his front door. He blinked. It wasn't normal to see her in that much pink and red…she was wearing a crimson shirt with a small pink jacket, and a pair of black pants with pink and red hearts on them. She also had heart a clip in her hair, small heart earrings, a heart pendant, and a sash—of course, all in shades between pink and red. Her shoes were also the same color. Of course, it did look good on her… 

Tea waved a hand before his face. "Hello, Yugi, you there?"

He blushed a charming shade of pink. "Ye—yeah, I'll be right there."

He rushed up to his room and picked up his jacket, putting it on before a mirror. For once, he wasn't wearing his school uniform. His grandpa had found out about the little gathering he was having with his friends, and knowing his Yugi and Tea were the best of friends, he had made him buy some new clothes. No doubt, the old man was trying to hook them up. Just in time for Valentine's Day…

With one more glance in the mirror at himself in less blue than usual, he hurried out of the room and ran back down the stairs. He stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him.

"What's with the new clothes?" Tea joked. "They sure look better on you than your school uniform."

"Hehe, thanks…" Yugi said, a bit embarrassed. "My grandpa got it for me."

She looked at him questioningly. "What for? I thought you two didn't care for new clothes…have you grown out of your old ones?" She winked. "Maybe you've finally grown."

"Well, um…uh…" he desperately tried to think of something to say. He couldn't tell her he had them because the old man thought they would be going on a date…it would ruin his chance! "He just thought…that it'd be nice to get me a present. Or at least, that's what he said," he improvised quickly.

Tea looked unconvinced for a moment, but thankfully, she didn't say so out loud. "Well, that's cool. So we're heading to the theaters, right? Just making sure that you guys didn't make last minute plans again."

"No, we didn't. We're still going there."

As the crosswalk signal changed, she said, "Come on then! Let's hurry up…or the others will wonder what happened!"

Yugi had no choice but to be dragged along behind her in the busy streets.

* * *

"Come on, come on, where is she?" Joey muttered, letting the curtain fall back over the front window from where he was looking. "She said she would be here by now." 

Serenity glanced at the clock beside her. "Be a bit more patient, Joey. We still have a bit of time. Mai won't make us late."

"Yeah, I know, but still…" He sighed and peeked out the window once more. "She said she'd be here by now," he sulked.

Serenity laughed softly. "You know, if might be better if you just admit to her your feelings. I bet that she already knows that they're there. She's just waiting for you to say something about them."

Joey turned around, expecting to see her joking around, but his little sister's face was serious. "Maybe."

Her face unexpectedly brightened up with a smile. "But you do have that gift you bought for her, right? That'll be a start."

"Yeah…" he said distractedly, putting a hand in his jacket pocket. "It's right here." He paused, then looked at her. "You're not meeting up with anyone, are you?"

"No, of course not. Who would I meet up with?"

But before he could answer her question, a knock fell on the door. Joey raced off to get it.

"Hey, Joey," Serenity heard as she got up. "Where's your sister? She is coming with us, right?"

"Yeah, I'm right here," she said, standing beside her brother. However, she barely even recognized the woman before her. Her eyes were the same, but…her hair was put up in some extravagant hairdo that looked as if it would come undone in the next second, it was so complicated. And her clothes were very different from what she always wore, too. Instead of the all purple attire she usually wore, she had an even more attractive outfit of pinks and whites, with a long skirt that almost revealed too much.

Not that Serenity could say much about what anyone else was wearing. Even she had dressed up for the once-a-year Valentine's Day. Her hair was put up in several layers, and her clothes were a little more dressy and showy than usual. Not too much, of course; Joey wouldn't think it too appropriate of his sister. And it would make her seem awkward and out of place. But what she had on still made her feel pretty…

"So, are we ready to go?" Mai asked, twirling her car keys around her finger.

"Yeah," Joey answered promptly. Serenity saw his hand sneak into his pocket, and she barely hid the smile that formed on her lips.

"Well, then, let's go." In less than a minute, they were out of the house and on their way to the theaters in Mai's convertible.

* * *

They met Tea, Yugi, Ryou, Tristan, and Duke before the entrance, waiting for them. Greetings were warm and happy, but the mood changed subtly. 

"We haven't decided on a movie yet, have we?" Tea said, looking at her cell phone, which had come from her purse. "Well, we have half an hour until the first movies start."

"Let's watch a horror movie," Duke said, a thoughtful look on his face.

However, he got no farther. Mai interrupted him. "Horror on Valentine's Day? I think not. We should watch something more romantic…"

"That's okay with—" Ryou started.

"No, I don't want to watch a love story," Joey complained. "They're boring."

"They most certainly are not," Tea countered.

"What about an action movie?" Tristan asked.

Most of them looked thoughtful at that. However, the spell was broken when Yugi said, "Are there even any good ones coming out right now? I thought most of them sounded a bit…well, corny."

They all sighed, some louder than others. "Well, what now?" Joey asked after a moment of silence. "We have to think of something to watch soon, or else we'll miss whatever movie. And we won't be able to find any good seats."

"What about a drama?" Serenity asked. "I mean, there's probably one or another out there that has some romance in it, but not too much. And we can find one that all of us like…"

"But there's nothing interesting about those," Duke said. "They're so boring."

"Yeah, sure," Mai said, elbowing him. "Who was it that cried after watching that drama at Yugi's house?"

"Hey, I wasn't the only one," he said, defending himself. As hard as he tried to hide his embarrassment, everyone could see right through it. "Tristan, Tea, and you cried, too."

"But doesn't that mean they're interesting, then? I mean, I didn't find it so boring…" said Ryou.

Yugi agreed. "Me neither."

"Exactly why we're going to watch a drama," Mai said, walking towards the doors. "Come on, let's go buy ourselves some tickets."

The rest of the small group of friends agreed and followed after her, leaving Duke behind. "Hey, what about me?" he shouted after them.

"Well, you can come along," Tristan said airily, following them. "It won't be that bad, my friend."

"Alright, alright," he grumbled, making his way inside.

* * *

The group was quiet as they walked out of the theater, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts of what they had seen. All of them except Mai—who had watched many such movies and had found this one barely past satisfactory—unlike the others, who had only watched a few at most. She let herself fall back to where Serenity was walking, Duke trailing beside her. 

It was a surprise that Duke wasn't even paying attention to her, for once. At least he wasn't as bad as Tristan. "See, I told you it wasn't that bad," she told him, jabbing at him with an elbow.

"Wha—! Hey, you don't have to scare me like that!"

"Your head was just high in the clouds to notice me here, that's all. Which says a lot, since you said you didn't like the movie…" Her voice hinted at a confession.

"Alright, alright," he said, giving in. "It was pretty good. It was just one of a kind, that's all."

Mai looked at him skeptically. "Really? I thought it was only okay." She ignored his remark as they walked out of the entrance, turning to Serenity instead. "Don't you wish real life was like that?"

"What do you mean, Mai?" she asked the older girl, not sure if she understood completely.

"You know, where an awesome guy comes to you at the time you need most help. And then you both think of each other for a long time, and finally, at the most desperate time, he does something that is totally awesome. And then he admits his love as you cry on his shoulder…" She sighed dreamily.

Serenity didn't answer, not very sure if she wished life were so. However, another thought crossed her mind that caused her to smile secretly. If only Mai knew that something like that _was_ unfolding in her life…After all, hadn't Joey come to her in many times of help, and didn't both of them think of each other often? At least it seemed they did. And they were also very caring with each other; as hard as it was to see, she knew them both well enough to know it was there. If only Mai knew that Joey was right there for her…

"What are you smiling about?" Mai asked, a friendly edge to her voice.

"Oh!" Her face heated up, embarrassed at being caught in her thoughts. "Um, nothing…"

"Sure," she said airily.

"I think it's time for lunch," Joey announced before them, unaware of what was happening behind him. "I'm hungry."

Yugi smiled. "You know what? For once, I think I actually agree with you. We should have bought some snacks for the movie."

"Yeah, well, we were running pretty late anyway," Tea answered. "But I agree, we should go get some lunch. Where do you guys want to go?"

"What's a good restaurant around here?" Mai asked thoughtfully.

"I don't wanna wait that long for food. Fancy restaurants always take forever to cook. Let's just go to some fast food place," Joey said.

Duke finally decided to join in the conversation—twirling his hair around his finger. "But that'll ruin my complexion. All that grease and fat…"

"Of course, Duke," Tea said sarcastically. "All the best for you."

"We can always go to a café to get quick food that isn't so…you know, greasy," Ryou chimed in. He looked at the others as it suddenly got quiet. "Right?"

Yugi unexpectedly broke out into a cheerful smile. "See, didn't I always tell you guys that Ryou was the most sensible out of all of us? Why not? Let's go to that café over there." He pointed at one situated against the theaters.

"Must come from being British," Joey muttered to Duke and Tristan.

* * *

Serenity smiled contentedly as she flopped down on her bed, closing her eyes. It must have been one of the best Valentine's Day gatherings she had ever been to. Other than having a bunch of fun, no one had turned tempers to the surface, even to her. And she hadn't needed to be quiet with worries of what the others would think of her ideas since all that had happened. 

But what was even better was seeing them so…romantic. By the time they had reached the café, Tea and Yugi were already forgetting about the others, running to get their own booth. And it had barely changed afterwards, when they had done some window shopping downtown. She had even seen Tea take a peck or two at Yugi's cheek, making him turn such a bright shade of red that Serenity almost burst out laughing. Joey finally—finally!—started to talk to Mai, and her dreams were pretty close to coming true. Even she had said so. And Joey had come home one gift and a bit of money lighter, too. Just like Yugi, Duke, and Tristan, though Joey was the king when it came to spending for someone special. And Mai, Tea, and her had gone home with more to carry, courtesy of the boys.

She glanced wryly at the bags she had dumped in a corner of her room. She had gotten quite a bit from Duke and Tristan, although it was considerably less than what her two friends had received. Her gifts were two bouquets of roses—one red, one pink—some chocolates, a scarf, and a cuddly teddy bear. The last one was from Duke, of course, little heart shaped balloons tied around it. What could she possibly do with all of it? Or course, she had taken them thankfully, not wanting them to know. But really, the gifts were just normal. The flowers that everyone got would die after awhile, and the chocolates would be eaten, most of them from Joey. At least the scarf could be used, though as white as it was, she probably would never wear it; it would get too dirty. And the teddy bear would only be a nice decoration. If only they had been a bit more…thoughtful.

Sighing wistfully, knowing that it would never be and that these were only a few reasons why Duke and Tristan would only be friends, she pushed herself up and off the bed and walked to her computer. It was late—she glanced at her desk clock, which showed 8:30—but she felt like staying up still. Maybe she should color her picture she had drawn a few weeks ago…Still not certain of what she was going to do, she turned on her computer anyway.

At first, when she turned on her computer, she simply sat there, staring at the screen. What was there to do? Then an idea struck her. Maybe Mai or Tea would be online. She knew how much those two would love to gossip about the day. Thoughtfully, she logged in to her instant messaging account.

However, neither of them was on. She scanned through her friends list to see if anyone else was on that was worth talking to. Most people weren't at this time of the night, especially during a holiday, but those that were on were people that she didn't really feel like talking to. She wanted to talk to someone that she knew better than most.

A name caught her eye by the online icon. As she scanned the screen name, she was surprised to find out it was Mokuba's. Who was it?

Disregarding her own account's safety, Serenity clicked the name to start a conversation. She quickly typed in "Hello?" and waited for a reply.

It was awhile in coming, but not long. _'Who is this?'_

Quickly pondering an answer, she typed back, 'Someone who doesn't want to reveal her identity to someone she doesn't know.'

_'Then I won't tell you who I am either.'_

'Well, I'm on the friends list, and you're on mine.'

'Or at least, the last user was.'

_'And?'_

'Does that help?'

_'No. Why should I trust you?'_

'Hey, I'm not trying to trick you or anything. This is my account.'

'_Give me your initials then. If I know you, I'll be able to guess easily.'_

She didn't answer at first, letting a few more messages fly by, along with one that said the user was going to log off if she didn't reply, then decided they would get nowhere if one of them didn't start. It was worth a risk. 'SW.'

The recipient also took awhile to figure it out. However, she didn't press the person, and they answered faster than she did. _'…Serenity?'_

'Maybe. Who are you?'

'_Seto.'_

She was so surprised for a second that she couldn't answer. A billion questions and statements of disbelief ran through her head, none of them completing before a new one settled in. She finally managed to type, 'O.o How come you're on your brother's account?'

'_I think my brother used to use this computer, and kept himself logged on.'_

'So you mean that…he set the computer to sign him in at all times?'

'_Yeah, probably. He might have forgotten that this isn't his computer.'_

'_He doesn't use it all the time, but he uses it often.'_

'Oh. That makes sense.'

'Where are you right now?'

_'At home. Why?'_

'I was just wondering, that's all.'

'Did you do anything interesting today?'

'Go to any parties or visit anyone?'

'_No. But I took a break from work and relaxed at home.'_

'Haha, that's one good way to enjoy Valentine's Day. Relaxing isn't so bad. xD'

_'No, it isn't. What did you do?'_

'I went with my brother and Yugi and the others and had a bunch of fun.'

_'As in?'_

'Watching movies, shopping…just having fun. : D'

_'Did you get any gifts?'_

'Why do you wanna know? xD But yeah, I did…flowers, candy, a teddy bear, and some balloons. The usual stuff.'

'Did you get anything?'

'_Actually, I did. I was going to call you tomorrow about it.'_

Serenity felt a momentary pang of fear. 'Why? What happened?'

'_Wait a second. I'll send you an email.'_

Doubts and fear began to build up as she quickly opened her internet account and her inbox. The email had obviously not come so soon, and she waited anxiously. Something sounded really bad…

Just then, a little icon popped up from the bottom of the screen. Quickly, she reopened her email and saw it. She took a deep breath, then double-clicked it.

However, she did not wait for it to show up. Instead, she minimized it and sent a reply on instant messenger.

'I got it…'

'_Okay.'_

Well, what else was there to do now? There was no use putting it off; she would have to read it anyway. Slowly, she dragged her mouse over the icon on the bottom of her screen and reopened the window.

'_Dear Seto Kaiba,_

_The jokes and tricks are wearing thin. I have had enough of this play, and so have you. It is time for the real business now. No more games. Bring that little girl along with you in five weeks to the top of your corporation building. That should give you enough time to prepare, don't you think? I'll be waiting…'_

Shakily, she reopened her messenger screen. A few more messages had been typed out, the latest being, _'Are you okay?'_

'I think…'

'_Hey, don't stress out about it, okay?'_

'_It will all turn out okay, I promise. Believe me.'_

'_Please?'_

'Okay.'

'_Well, I need to go right now. Keep safe for now.'_

'I will.'

'Thank you.'

_'Don't worry. :D'_

She watched the screen as a small message came up. He was gone now. Slowly, she logged out herself and shut down her computer. Quietly, she crawled under her covers and huddled in her bed, eyes open and wide awake.

* * *

So, did you like it? Sorry if the instant messenger part was confusing. Seto was typing what was in italics, and Serenity was typing what was in regular. And both of them were typing their corresponding parts in quotes… 

I hope you liked it! Not as fluffy as I should have made it, but I thought I might finally introduce the other couples instead. I told you there weren't going to be many scenes with them, so…

Review, please! Any constructive criticism on my overall writing would be very appreciated! Like always…


	20. Chapter XX

I know, I know…don't remind me. I haven't updated in awhile. Partially, it's because I only got 1 review for my last chapter; it was that disheartening. But also, I've been busy with preparing in band for three major concerts, and a bunch of art commissions. So I'll probably be slow in updating the next chapter, too…

So yeah. That's all I really wanted to say. I don't own Yugioh…

Let Chapter XX begin!

* * *

The winds blew across Serenity's face, whipping the strands of her hair before her eyes. Her hands were carrying her math book, so she tried to shake the pieces aside once more, yet to no avail. They were changing directions too much, so if she could get her hair out of her face, it would simply find its way back to where it was before.

Peering ahead through slit eyes, she tried to look ahead. Not that many people were out here, even though it was pretty early in the afternoon. Most were indoors out of the cold weather or in a sheltered place. It hadn't been this windy in a long while, and it was bringing freezing temperatures with it. At least there wasn't much sign of rain.

She wished that she still had the speech club to go to today, out of all days. Instead, it was the other way around. Many of the members had been gone for some trip for their history class, so no one found it worthwhile to stay and do nothing. And because she had only learned today when she saw the sign on the door, she had to walk home now. Her brother could have picked her up earlier, but he was at work already. The bus wasn't a bad idea, either, but she didn't have enough money to pay the fare.

The wind was getting to strong. She caught sight of a café she often frequented. Why not go in there? She knew the people there well enough for them to let her simply stay inside without buying anything. It was as good a place as any.

Quickly, she made her way to the door. Surprisingly, as little people around as there were, she almost ran into someone when she reached the little café's entrance. They let her in first, holding the door open for her and her full hands, and with a grateful thank you, she walked in with relief.

Her eyes scanned the place. There weren't too many people in here…well, instead of sitting here, maybe it would be better to talk with the manager, who was almost like a mother to Serenity. She hadn't talked to her in a long time, and a little pang of guilt jumped in her when she remembered her promise to visit her a month ago. Now was a good of time as any, especially because her friend probably wouldn't be too busy with this few customers.

"May I please talk to your manager?" Serenity asked one of the waitresses.

"Oh, she isn't here right now," the girl replied. "She had some business meeting or the other. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Her opportunity was lost. Who knew when she would be able to meet her friend again? "Oh, it's okay. I just wanted to talk to her—she's a good friend of mine. But it's nothing big." Without waiting for the next question to pop out of the waitress' mouth, she hurried to a small booth by the window.

She gazed soberly out the window. The wind really needed to let up soon, or at least calm down a bit, or else she would have a hard time getting home. Well, the least she could hope for would be for the wind not to get any stronger.

She would wait fifteen minutes, no longer, she promised herself. There was no use staying longer, and she didn't want to impose on those who worked here, especially if she didn't order anything. If only she had the money…

As Serenity's eyes roved over the road, a lonely pedestrian caught her eye. He was walking towards the café on the sidewalk, barely visible from the window. Automatically, without any prompt, her mind started to play her little evaluation game again.

From here, it was too hard to tell anything. But of course, it always was—how likely was it that her assumptions were ever even close to correct? It was just a game, not something that she thought was true about them. She knew that it was the worst way to judge people, from first impulse or appearance. Still…as he slowly came closer, she thought she could at least tell a few things.

The person wasn't hurrying somewhere, that was for certain. So what was he or she doing out on such a windy day? There was probably something on their mind. Or maybe they were early to an appointment and decided to take their time. But the first assumption would make things more interesting…she followed that instinct instead.

The person soon drew close enough for her to see that he was a man. Not old, almost young…it was something in the way he carried himself. He didn't seem to be overly happy—who would, with dreary weather like this?—and he didn't look burdened with emotion, either. Actually, he looked like he was either hiding something or pushing it away. Or at least, he looked like someone familiar who usually did that…but who? She didn't know anyone who did that.

As he got closer, she was certain she had met this person a few times before. There was something in the way he held himself, and even his build looked familiar. With a shock, she realized she did know this person. The hair, the eyes, the clothing style…Who else could it be?

By the time she got over the shock, Kaiba was pulling open the door to the café. Without stopping, he made his way to her small table.

"What are you doing here?" Serenity asked in surprise.

"I don't know, really." He took a seat across the table from her. "I was just walking by when I saw you in here, and decided to pay you a visit."

"Oh."

She fell into silence when she a waitress came over to give him a menu. She looked at Serenity for a second, considering if she should give her one also, then didn't and walked away.

"You're not getting anything?" he asked her when she was out of earshot.

Serenity shook her head. "I don't have the money. If I did, I would have taken the bus and been home by now."

He didn't take his eyes off the words before him. "Oh, I see. You're here to seek shelter from the outdoors because you didn't have a ride."

"The speech club was cancelled today, and I didn't know until this morning. I couldn't reach my brother to tell him, so I had to walk home."

"Why are they letting you stay here, then?" Kaiba asked, looking at her over the top of his menu. "I would have thought they kicked out people who simply use them if they're not customers."

Serenity's face reddened at the remark. "Well, I know the manager here. I was going to visit her for the meanwhile, but she isn't here today. They let me stay, though."

"Oh, okay. I see." It was quiet between them for a moment, then he asked, "What's good here? I've never been here before."

Why was he asking for her opinion? They probably had totally different tastes. "Um…what are you looking to get? A drink?"

"Maybe I should ask what you like to get from here instead."

"Oh." She was at loss for what to say. "The blueberry scones here are good."

"Really…" he said musingly.

"And so is their hot chocolate," she quickly added, then regretted it. She didn't like to have such strong judgements towards people that she knew, but he didn't really seem like the type to drink a beverage like that. He'd probably have coffee instead.

He put the menu down on the table. "Hot chocolate, huh?"

However, she didn't have time to answer. A waitress came over to take their order, seeing the menu lying unnoticed on the table. "May I take your order?" she asked.

"Two blueberry scones and two hot chocolates," he answered promptly.

The waitress looked oddly at him for one second, but he didn't seem to notice. Quickly, she scribbled the order down. Without another word, she took the menu and left.

"Why did you order two?" Serenity asked.

"Don't you want any? I thought you might be uncomfortable watching me eat when you didn't have anything."

She couldn't answer for a moment, surprised. He ordered something for her? How inconsiderate she was…how could she overlook such a nice offer? "Oh," was all she could manage. She saw the corner of his mouth quirk, and couldn't help turning red.

Serenity turned towards the window, trying to hide her face. The weather was still as bad, if not worse. Pleasantness slid from her thoughts. She should have just walked home earlier. It probably wouldn't let up for a long time. But now that she had become someone's guest, she couldn't just leave…

"Bad weather out there, isn't it?" Seto's voice broke through her thoughts. "It looks worse than before."

She nodded. "I should have just gone home earlier. It's going to be impossible to make it home now…" The wind looked so bad out there. It would be hard to keep her eyes open enough to see, especially since she had such sensitive eyes.

It stayed silent at their table until the food and beverages finally came. Serenity's appetite hadn't been that big in the first place, but now, after all of the depressing thoughts made their way in a march through her brain, she didn't even feel like looking at the scone and hot chocolate before her. But that would be impolite…She forced herself to at least take a sip of the warm drink before her.

Quietly, the two slowly consumed their snack, not talking. Serenity could feel Kaiba's gaze on her every once in a while, a look that felt like a stare. She didn't look up. Instead, she kept her eyes to look at the table and its contents. Why did she feel like she had done something wrong?

"Do you need a ride home?" Kaiba finally asked, breaking the silence. He had finished his scone and his hot chocolate already.

She looked up, a reply already forming on her tongue. "Oh, it's okay. You've already done a lot for me. I can just walk—"

"Stop being so humble," he interrupted. "If you want to find a way to not take my offer, think of another way."

As she groped blindly for a way to keep him from doing even more for her, a low laugh escaped his throat. "Calm down, Serenity, I'm just teasing you. You're too stressed out."

She didn't answer; instead, she let a slow exhale say it all.

"Are you sure you don't want a ride? The wind is getting strong out there, and dangerous." He looked out the window for a moment. "It'll be hard to see where you're going, especially with the wind and who-knows-what-else blowing around."

Serenity sighed and buried her face in one hand. "I don't know. I know I should just make my way home, but then…"

She stayed that way, her eyes closed against her hand. Why was he being so nice to her all of a sudden? He had told her so many times to keep her distance. And that wasn't all. After that email he had forwarded to her about Mokuba, they had decided to stay away from each other as much as they could, so they could each do what they needed to do without hindering each other. She wasn't even sure that she was supposed to go along with him when he met those men.

She heard the waitress come by with the check, and come and pick it up again. Words were exchanged, and so was money. "Thank you. Have a nice day," she heard.

A ruffling of clothes made her look up. "Let's go," Kaiba said, pushing himself away from the table.

I didn't even take his offer, she thought dimly. But she didn't really care. Even though she had been put in a lot of danger because she had been with him so much lately, she felt more secure around him. Picking up her things from the table, she followed.

He was right about the violence of the wind. As soon as he pushed open the door, her hair was whipping her face with its strands.

"My car isseveral blocks from here, at the big public parking lot. It's a bit to walk, but not as bad as walking all the way home, right?"

"Yeah, that's true," she answered. She hitched her shoulder to put her backpack in a comfortable position, and attempted to shake some strands of hair from her face, but some of them were stuck under a strap. "Seto, do you think you could hold my books really quick?" she asked him, her head slightly askew. "My hair…"

He looked amused, but he didn't say anything as he took them from her. Gratefully, she pulled the auburn strands free, then pulled them back. She reached into her backpack and quickly took out a hair tie, then put it up.

"Better?" he questioned.

She smiled, her spirit in a better mood. "Yep."

Serenity was about to take her books back when he said, "It's okay; I'll hold them. You look like you have enough to deal with already." Not waiting for another word of protest, he turned around and started walking.

It wasn't until they had crossed the street and were making their way across the next block that Seto finally broke the silence. Serenity didn't know about him, but she was at a loss for what to say…and for some reason, she had started feeling just the least bit nervous. It wasn't the bad type; it just seemed like the everyday, it's-not-something-bad type. "Are you going to come along the week after next?" he asked suddenly, quietly. "You know, when we're going to see what those kidnappers are up to."

His tone was so violent when he had mentioned those men that Serenity was surprised he hadn't been more vile. "Um, I guess…" she answered vaguely. "I don't know if I can go without Joey knowing exactly what I'm up to, because I know he would probably tie me up if I told him about it. So he would be sure I wouldn't leave." She left a part unspoken, a part that both of them didn't need to mention. _And I'm scared…I'm afraid of what I'll see, and what will happen_.

"You don't have to come along if you don't want to," he said after a period of silence. "It's not something I want to see, either. But I have to."

"I know." She gazed out at the semi-empty streets and stores around them. They seemed to be a reflection of her mind and heart. Everything seemed so…different, now. It felt foreign, and as if she was waiting for something to happen, just like the stores were waiting for their customers.

However, he didn't bug her for the answer she didn't give. Instead, both of them walked in silence to the large parking lot ahead of them.

They were just a couple of blocks from the parking lot when Serenity thought she felt something nagging at her. She could see the garage from here. Turning around, she scanned the sidewalks. Nothing looked out of place.

"Do you feel anything?" she asked uncertainly after a moment of hesitation. "Like…if someone was watching you?"

Kaiba nodded, the motion barely perceptible. She turned her head back once more, trying in vain to see anything out of the ordinary. If he could sense it too, it meant it was real, right?

Suddenly, she felt something grab at her bag and jerk her backwards. She tried to scream and saw Kaiba whip around, catching the movement with the corner of his eye. However, a cloth was thrust over her nose and mouth, thick enough to make it a struggle just to breath. She felt an arm constricting her throat.

"Stay back," the voice behind her demanded.

"Who are you?" Kaiba growled. However, he heeded the stranger's words, looking at something at her captor's belt. "Let her go!"

She felt the arm tighten around her, and realized at the same moment that there was something on the cloth, slowly bringing black spots around her vision.

"What will you do about it?" the voice said, taunting, and fading.

A faint shout echoed through her mind. She couldn't hear the words, and as she began to loose consciousness, she thought it was just a figment of her imagination. She felt the weight on her back disappear and felt a jolting motion after being taken off the ground.

Just before she blacked out, she thought she could hear a familiar voice shouting her name, and a strangely comforting image floated before her closed eyes, a man with dark hair and blue eyes.

"SERENITY!"

* * *

So, did you like it? I hope it was satisfactory enough, because like I said before, it'll probably be awhile until my next update.

I tried not to put too big of a cliffhanger because of that—I was originally going to cut it off right before she felt the arm around her and the cloth over her face. With just a "Suddenly—" But that would be too creul.

So. Happy reviewing?


	21. Chapter XXI

Didn't I tell you I wouldn't update for a long time? How long has it been, three weeks or so? So yeah. But I've finally finished the next chapter. It's longer than usual, so I hope it'll make up for the long wait. If it doesn't, then…Well, I'll try to make it up again!

However, it'll again be a long time before my next update. I'm still crammed with art commissions, and I'm getting busier in all aspects of life. Just as a warning.

So, enough talking. I know you're anxious to read this chapter…I don't own Yugioh, like always.

* * *

"Pick the damn phone up already," he mumbled, his hand clenched around the phone. His eyes glinted dangerously in the sparse light. 

_"Hello?"_ a voice answered, obviously unaware of why he was calling. He seemed happy; voices of excitement broke through the background.

"Wheeler."

_"Kaiba."_ The voice immediately lost all of its joy and good feeling. It was flat now. _"What do you want?"_

Kaiba didn't answer for a moment, trying to find an easier way to break the news. Even if he didn't like him, he couldn't just tell him and leave. It would defeat the purpose. "Your sister—"

_"What about her? What did you do?"_ Threats laced his voice, and the murmurs became silent.

"I didn't do—"

_"Where is she then? You better tell me she's safe, or else—"_

A fist slammed onto the desk. "If you want to know, fine; but let me finish, damn you! What do you think I'm trying to tell you?"

_"Alright then, fine. Tell me already."_

Kaiba took a deep breath to steady himself, then let it all out in one breath—"Your sister's been kidnapped."

* * *

It was dark, too dark. She could see nothing. Her ears rang in the muffling silence. The air was dry in her mouth, hot and moistureless against her skin. It was musty, yet it felt as if there was no air. 

Her heart raced in her chest. Where was he? What was this place?

Desperately, she tried to move, but found her arms and wrists immobile behind her. Her legs were tied together too, bound with biting cord around her ankles. She tried to look about her, and a blindfold made its presence known. She tried to scream, but nothing came out.

Panic rose in waves inside her. For a few moments, it blinded her senses and her mind to everything but the feeling. But slowly, it faded as she sought to gain control once more. Ever so slowly, it backed away into a little shadowed corner of her mind.

She tried to find another way to move, to explore where she was kept prisoner. Her hands were quickly becoming numb now from the loss of blood flow. Panic momentarily flooded over her once more. However, she quickly gained control once more. Discovering her feet and legs still had feeling, a plan started to hatch inside her mind. Painstakingly, keeping her back to the wall, she scooted along the floor—it was hard, not carpet—until finally, tired, she felt her shoulder hit something hard and small. A dull thump that rang in the air lifted and faded away as she hit a flat surface with her shoulder. She maneuvered herself to turn around, to put her back against whatever it was that she had hit. Oh, it was so difficult! Something kept poking against her, hindering her, making it harder and harder to turn and place her back on the new object.

When she finally did, she was exhausted. There were three things digging into her neck and back now. What she was leaning on was cold, at least. It felt good. But slowly, she felt herself slipping away from consciousness. It seemed as if she was floating, light enough to escape. Dimly, she was aware that something warm and sticky was trailing down from her wrists to her lower back. But she didn't care. Instead, she let herself drift away.

* * *

"_What? What the hell are you talking about?"_ Joey shouted to loud that Kaiba couldn't help but wince. 

He sighed. "Your sister."

"_How do you know that she…that she…"_ The challenge turned to a trickle as he tried to find another word.

"Kidnapped? There's no polite way to say that for the ignorant."

"_Don't say that. It's not true! You're lying to me! Where is she?"_ His voice rose hysterically.

Kaiba had enough of Joey's denial. His fury and anger boiled over. "How do you expect me to know where she is? I told you, she's been kidnapped! Did you expect me to follow them by foot when they were speeding in a car?"

"_You could have taken another vehicle! You're just trying to make excuses! I would have thought someone like—"_

There was the sound of a brief struggle, then a new voice came over the line.

"_Hey, Kaiba?"_ Yugi asked uncertainly.

"What do you want?" he asked flatly. "Get Wheeler back on the phone. This doesn't concern you."

"_He's not going to listen to you, at least not now. It's useless to try and explain it to him in his state of mind."_

"Then what do you propose I do? Wait ten minutes and call again?"

Kaiba let his taunt hang in the air, letting him absorb the meaning of it, leaving silence to float there. Hesitantly, a reply came back.

_"Well, we can all talk about it, instead of just you two. After all, what happened to her…it concerns us too, you know."_

"Fine. As long as I can talk to Wheeler. As much as I hate and loathe him, it's worth my time for him to know." He glanced at the numbers hanging on the wall in a circle. "I'll wait fifteen minutes. I'm at my office. If you don't come then, I'm not waiting." With that, he hung up the phone.

* * *

Something was chasing her. Something, someone. It was no more than a dark shadow, never giving up, never stopping. Yet it never ran, either, or moved. It simply got closer and closer. 

She tried to scream, but she couldn't. When she tried to run, she couldn't move. She looked down to see herself tied with ropes of darkness, and waves of it slowly consuming her. She never had been moving, it had only been getting closer.

She struggled more, but it only made the bonds tighter, the waves stronger and darker. What was happening to her? Why?

The last thing she saw was the—thing—closing in on her. The darkness. Light was just behind it, but she couldn't reach.

Then she closed her eyes and screamed as loud as she could.

* * *

Kaiba's head snapped up. "What are you slamming my doors for?" he growled viciously. His glare penetrated even the anger of Joey, and he faltered for a moment. However, it was only for a split second. 

"Because I want to! Where the hell is Serenity?" Joey's fists were clenched as he stood before the rest of his friends.

Kaiba felt like throwing something at him. Who did he think he was, barging in and trying to break someone else's furniture? But instead, he calmed himself down and kept his limbs—and voice—in control. "I've told you already. I don't know."

"Then how did you know she's gone?"

Yugi had crept behind Joey as they had swapped words. "Yeah, maybe you should explain it to us," he said.

Us? Kaiba looked behind them for the first time to see who was really there. Joey and Yugi, of course, and Tea and Tristan. At least the others weren't here.

He turned around his chair to look out the window, down at the streets below him. It was pretty late now, and most people were trying to get home. Lights flickered and turned off and on as they were blocked. Streetlights changed colors.

"Are you going to tell us or not?" Joey asked venomously.

He ignored the question and didn't bother to answer. But he told his story. "There's not much to it. I decided to take a break from here, so I drove my car a few miles to the other side of the city. I parked my car in the public garage and made my way through the streets, not really sure where I was going. I saw Serenity in a small café.

"I decided to join her, since I really had nothing else to do to pass my time. She told me she was sitting in there to shelter herself from the strong winds, since some club was cancelled and she didn't have a way to get home. I bought us some beverages and things from the café, then we left.

"It was still windy outside and getting worse, so I offered her a ride home. It took her awhile to make the decision—something about intruding on the courtesy of others—but she finally agreed. And when we were just a few blocks from the garage…well, that's when it happened. Someone took her."

It was silent for a moment. The only noise was the ticking of the clock, a steady beat counting the time.

"And you never thought to go after her, did you?" Joey finally asked.

"It was…shocking. The man threatened me, then went off in a speeding vehicle that some buddy of his had in wait." He paused. "But I did get a bit of information before they got away."

He turned around as he pulled several slips of paper from his pocket. "I got the license place number, and a glimpse of the driver."

"And the man who took her?" Tea asked, speaking for the first time as Joey took the offered slips.

"I got more than a glimpse of him. He's burned into my memory." His gaze flickered to Serenity's brother, who was flipping through the pieces, waiting to see what he would make of it.

He looked up shortly. "This is all you got?" He passed the papers to his friends.

"From the kidnapping? Yes. From the whole ordeal, no."

Joey's fists clenched tightly. "What are you talking about?"

Kaiba sighed. "Maybe it's time I should explain the whole thing to you, now that it actually involves you." He pushed himself out of his chair and walked over to a nearby filing cabinet, opening one of its drawers. Flipping through a few folders, he finally found what he wanted and pushed it shut.

"I have a deep suspicion that this does with my brother's disappearance. Probably more than a suspicion, I'm almost certain. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone after your sister. But I have some more concrete evidence here." He laid out the papers on his desk, then tossed his folder onto his chair.

"This is everything your sister and I have found on the whole disappearance. The people, their doings, any hints, all of it. And this man"—he leaned over his desk and pointed to a black and white picture—"looks like the man in the car."

The four of them gathered around to study it. "Where did you get it from?" Tristan asked.

"The police. I've shared everything I've found with a group of them."

Yugi frowned. "Then what makes it so special?"

"This is where it would take half a year to explain everything has happened in that amount of time. I'll keep it short. I went to the city hall around Christmas because of…well, let's call it an invitation. This was the man I met there. After I dropped your sister off—"

"What? You were with my sister during Christmas?" Joey's eyes were filled with anger.

"Look, do you want to hear all of it or not? Personally, I don't care, but I thought you wanted to know for half a year. Isn't the suspense killing you already? I would think so."

Joey muttered something under his breath, but he didn't argue. With one more warning glance, Kaiba continued. "As I was saying, after I dropped your sister off, I went straight to the police station and reported the man. They were able to find a file on him shortly after as a missing criminal. I also gave them copies of this."

All of them bent closer to two scraps of weathered and torn paper; Kaiba to point, and the rest to examine them. "What is it?" Tristan asked suspiciously. "It doesn't look like anything to me."

Kaiba scowled. "Obviously." He pulled open a drawer and rummaged through it for a bit, then found what he needed. He slammed it shut and pushed the new object under Tristan's nose on the desk. "Read."

"Mokuba is at…something…the place where we…something…him. Meet me at…something," he read. He looked up. "What the hell? It doesn't make any sense."

Tea became impatient. "And what does it have to do with Serenity? Stop taking the long way around, Kaiba, and be more direct, will you?"

"I am. If I was any more direct you wouldn't understand me."

"So?" She prodded.

He stared at her. "Let me finish." His attention went back to the paper. "I'm surprised none of you noticed Serenity's handwriting. The man that I supposed kidnapped her had those scraps with him. He took it out for me to read it but apparently forgot that thought as soon as it came out of his pocket. He ripped it up and threw it into the air before I could read it. She was able to copy what one piece said before it blew away from the windshield. She wrote what she remembered from the other piece that blew past the car when it stuck to the window from the force of the wind for one second."

Joey looked utterly confused. "And what does this do with her being gone?"

"Nothing."

The others looked at him, dumbfounded. "Nothing?" Joey shouted. "Then what the hell are you doing telling us this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you wanted to know," Kaiba said dryly. "Maybe you weren't begging to know about the whole thing, just part of it."

"Stop playing games with us, Kaiba," Yugi demanded. "Just get straight to the point."

"Well, what else do you want to know? Just about Serenity? Then fine, you get it. I've already told you all I know. And I've told the police the same thing." His gaze swiveled in a quick movement to Joey, silencing him. "If you think I haven't been puzzling over this enough, think again. That's all I've been doing since I've returned."

Just then, the phone rang. With a glance at the number, he swept the papers in a flurry off his desk and angled the machine so the webcam could see nothing but him and the view outside the window. With once more warning stare, he hit the speaker button. "Kaiba Corporations, Seto Kaiba speaking."

_"Perfect. Just who I wanted…"_ a familiar voice drawled. He recognized it as the man from the last call who claimed he was the boss. He was still wearing the same outfit. "So has the impact hit you yet?"

"Be more specific."

_"Well then, I guess I don't, do I? If everything else has hit you, so as this. What are you planning to do about it?"_ A catlike smile cut his features in half.

"Nothing."

Just then, Joey and the others chose to break the silence. "What?" Joey cried, his friends voicing indignation. "You son of a bitch! I thought you cared about her enough to save her life!"

He reached across the desk to pull the phone towards him and took in a breath to shout into the speaker, but Kaiba knocked his hand away. "Don't even try," he spoke in an undertone. A dangerous glint lit in his eyes that didn't go away.

_"So you have friends over, hmm?" said the voice. Kaiba immediately turned his attention back. "And so I was right, you do care for the girl."_

Anger surged through him. "Assume what you want," he seethed.

_"Little liar. You do have friends to help you. How mean of you to not tell the truth."_

"Like I said, assume what you want. What the fuck did you call me for?"

_"Oh, I just wanted to make sure…"_

Two fists slammed into the table hard enough to lift papers into the air and rattle the contents of the desk. "I asked, what the fuck did you call me for?"

He smiled. _"Oh, I'll leave that for you to decide…but remember our little picnic outing that's coming up."_

"What the—"

But the line was dead, the screen black.

"So, what's your answer now?" Joey taunted.

Kaiba looked as if he were about to lunge over the desk and murder him. "My answer? You want my answer? You ruined everything, little boy! They know everything now!"

"Guys, calm down…" Yugi interrupted hesitantly.

But he wouldn't take it. The enraged CEO turned towards him. "Just in case you haven't figured it out either, you've just put yourselves in danger. And Serenity and Mokuba might as well be dead. Have you not realized it yet? We know next to nothing about them. They, on the other hand, know everything about us, our every move, our every plan, our every word. You wanted to help? You've got the job! Get my brother and that little boy's sister out of what you've just put them into!"

In the silence, all that was heard was his ragged breathing. They looked at each other in the growing dark uncertainly.

"Is that what you wanted?" Kaiba whispered roughly. "Then fine. Come by every chance you have to see what you can do with all of the information your sister and I have found. Everything, all of it, use it. I keep nothing back. Let's see if you can do better." He threw the file and the papers at them. "Do you want it now? Go ahead and take it. I have my own copies; you can use the original. Let's see if I've just been blind and stupid."

* * *

She fell back in exhaustion, only a little satisfied. Since she had woken up and shaken off the effects of the drug they had used to tranquilize her—how long had she slept?—she had found out she was locked up in a small abandoned office. What she had fallen asleep on was a desk. The rest of the room was bare except for one filing cabinet. Everything was empty from the sound of it. There were no windows, only a locked door. 

She had built up her strength enough to push herself up and wander around, using her shoulder as a cushion and a replacement hand. That was how she had found out everything. Yet what was the use of it all? She slumped on the ground. She was alone, and no one would listen to any pleas. The drug that had kept her voice from working had long since worn off, but she had yelled herself hoarse once more in attempt to attract someone's attention. It must have been after hours, wherever she was.

She felt the lump that was tied around her ankles, shifting her legs. If only there was something sharp enough to cut through them! But everything she had found sharp enough was too high for her to keep sawing at forever, even at the bonds around her wrists. Her hands and arms were too numb to hold anything, anyway. On her back, she could feel the blood that had trickled from the abrasions caused by trying to work her hands out. Otherwise, they felt like dead weights against her back—her hands and arms could feel nothing at all, not even pain.

What were the others doing now? Did they wonder where she was? Did they think of a way to bring her back? Did they even know what had happened?

Unbidden, tears came to her eyes. Would anyone come and help her? Would someone find her, hear her silent pleas, and rescue her? They soaked into her blindfold, absorbing into the cloth. She was scared, of why they kept her there, what they wanted to know, what they might do.

Where was everyone? Why wouldn't they come? She felt so lonely; didn't they know? How come no one wanted to save her?

In the darkness, her heart cried soundlessly for a friend, aching.

_Joey._

_Yugi._

_Seto._

* * *

So, did you like it? A bit more angsty than usual, and it'll be like this for another few chapters. Happy reviewing! 


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